THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


«      \ 


OUR  COUNTRY: 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 


mes  0f     i 


SUGGESTED  BY  THE  VARYING  EVENTS  OF  THE  WAR 
FOE  THE  UNION. 


BY  GEOEGE  PECK,  D.D. 


N  t  ro  |)  o  r  It : 

PUBLISHED  BY  CARLTON  &  PORTER, 

200  M  U  L  15  E  R  U  T  -  8T  R  E  E  T. 
1805. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1865,  by 
CARLTON    &    PORTER, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


53*. 


PREFACE. 


THE  discourses  which  compose  this  volume  were 

suggested  by  the  events  of  the  day,  and  were  deliv- 

uj     ered  while  those   events  were  still  current  in  the 

^     thoughts  and  the  hearts  of  the  people.     They  are 

»     arranged  here  chiefly  in  accordance  with  the  order  of 

time.     The  sermon  on  "  Our  Heritage  "  occupies  the 

H 

**     first  position,  because  it  forms  a  fitting  introduction 

CM 

g     to  the  general  subject.     The  second,  on  "  Obedience 

to  the  Civil  Authority,"  was  preached  in  the  summer 

Q     of  1861,  when  the  nation  began  to  realize  that  a  war 

n     °f  gigantic  proportions  was  upon  us,  and  Christian 

^     men  were  earnestly  inquiring  the  path  of  duty.     The 

—f 

%     third,  on  "  The  Signs  of  the  Times,"  was  preached  at 

a  camp-meeting  in  the  valley  of  Wyoming,  about  the 
time  of  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Bun.  The  fifth 
is  a  sermon  delivered  in  Scranton,  Pa.,  on  the  day 

461835 


4  PREFACE. 

of  National  Thanksgiving  after  the  victory  at  Get- 
tysburgh.  Thus,  one  by  one,  as  the  varying  events 
of  the  war  suggested,  the  discourses  were  prepared 
and  delivered,  and  a  number  of  them  were  published 
in  the  local  newspapers.  They  have  been  .carefully 
revised,  and  are  now  offered  to  the  public  with  the 
hope  that  their  publication  may  not  be  wholly  in 
vain  in  this  the  day  of  our  national  trial.  G.  P. 
SCRANTON,  PA.,  March  4,  1865. 


CONTENTS. 


MM 

I.  OUR  HERITAGE •. 7 

II.  OBEDIENCE  TO  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT 20 

HI.  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES 36 

IV.  STRENGTH  IN  THE  DAY  OF  ADVERSITY  ...     57 
V.  FIERY  TRIALS  OF  OUR  FREE  INSTITUTIONS    69 

VI.  RADICALISM 90 

VH.  THE  LORD'S  CONTROVERSY 104 

VIII.  THE  WRATH  OF  MAN  SHALL  PRAISE  GOD.   122 

IX.  SLAVERY 139 

X.  A  COMPROMISE  REJECTED 169 

XL  NO  NEUTRALITY 187 

XH.  NO  FALSE  PEACE 203 

XHI.  HARDER  BLOWS,  AND  MORE  OF  THEM. .  f .  ?  21T 
XIV.  THE  SECESSION  DEVIL. . ,...,...,,,.,...,,,.  231 
XV.  THE  GOOD  SAMARITAN .., 856 


OUR  COUNTEY: 

ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 


OUR  HERITAGE. 

THE  LINES  ARE    FALLEN  UNTO  ME  IN  PLEASANT  PLACES  ;   TEA,   I  HAVE 
A  GOODLY  HERITAGE. — Psa.  Xvi,  6. 

IN  this  world,  though  crowded  with  moral  and 
physical  evils,  there  are  "pleasant  places."  In  the 
midst  of  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  there  are  intervals 
of  peace.  While  the  ear  is  stunned  with  bacchanalian 
revels  and  noisy  mirth,  there  may  be  found  the  tem- 
ple of  worship  and  the  quiet  family  altar. 

When  surrounded  by  jagged  rocks,  yawning 
chasms,  and  stagnant  pools,  myriads  of  beautiful 
landscapes,  variegated  by  the  greensward,  the  yellow 
grain,  and  the  waving  corn,  greet  the  eye.  Beautiful 
flowers  regale  the  sight  and  delicious  fruits  invite  the 
taste.  Among  the  monarchies  and  despotisms  which 
wage  war  against  human  progress  and  crush  out  the 
freedom  of  the  soul,  there  is  one  free  republic  where 


8  OUR  COUNTRY: 

liberty  has  full  scope.  While  large  portions  of  the 
world  are  surrounded  by  the  moral  blight  of  heathen- 
ism and  popery,  there  is  a  true  Church  of  God 
crowned  with  salvation  and  reflecting  the  glory  of  the 
Redeemer.  The  prospect  is  not  all  dark  and  forbid- 
ding, but  the  eye  is  cheered  with  physical  beauty, 
while  the  heart  is  charmed  with  moral  splendors. 
The  people  whose  local  habitation  is  surrounded  with 
pleasurable  objects  are  happy. 

If  there  is  a  country  on  the  map  of  the  world  truly 
favored  of  God  it  is  our  own  America.  "We  have  a 
country,  a  government,  and  a  Church  bequeathed  to 
us,  primarily  by  God,  and  secondarily  by  our  fathers, 
which  constitute  a  rich  heritage,  and  which  demand 
of  us  in  return  patriotism  and  religion. 

"We  have  a  goodly  heritage. 

This  country  has  "  lines,"  or  definite  boundaries. 
The  text  refers  to  the  lot  which  fell  to  the  Israelites 
in  Canaan.  Their  land  originally  included  the  coun- 
try from  the  Arabian  desert  on  the  south  to  the 
mountains  of  Lebanon  on  the  north,  and  from  the 
river  Jordan  on  the  east  to  the  Mediterranean  sea  on 
the  west.  Under  the  reign  of  David  it  embraced  all 
the  territory  between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean, or  "  from  the  river  to  the  ends  of  the  earth," 
or  the  land's  end.  (See  1  Kings  iv,  21,  22,  and  Psa. 
Ixxii,  8.)  The  larger  "territory  was  all  embraced  in 
the  promise  given  to  Abram.  (Gen.  xiii,  15.) 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  9 

There  is  a  striking  analogy  between  the  lines  of  the 
land  of  Israel  and  those  of  our  own  country.  Orig- 
inally the  land  divided  by  Joshua  embraced  little 
more  than  a  narrow  strip  of  country  between  the  Jor- 
dan and  the  Mediterranean ;  but  ultimately,  under 
Solomon,  it  covered  the  whole  country  between  the 
Euphrates  and  the  border  of  Egypt.  (1  Kings  iv,  21.) 
Originally  we  only  had  thirteen  states,  embracing  the 
country  from  the  Atlantic  to  Lake  Erie,  and  from  the 
Canada  line  to  the  southern  boundary  of  Georgia. 
Ultimately  we  became  possessed  of  the  whole  ter- 
ritory between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  and 
from  the  British  possessions  on  the  north  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  on  the  south.  These  are  our  lines  to-day. 
This  vast  territory  has  come  into  our  possession,  so 
far  as  human  agency  is  concerned,  partly  by  conquest, 
and  partly  by  purchase  from  other  nations  and  the 
Indian  tribes.  The  providence  of  God  being  con- 
cerned in  the  whole  arrangement,  we  should  regard 
our  country  as  a  divine  gift,  an  inheritance  conferred 
by  Him  who  rules  over  the  affairs  of  nations,  "  setting 
up  one  and  putting  down  another." 

The  lines  are  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places. 
This  is  truly  "  a  delightsome  land  "  in  the  beauty  of 
its  natural  scenery ;  its  towering  mountains,  with 
their  fertile  slopes;  its  vast  rivers,  with  their  luxuriant 
vales  clothed  with  every  variety  of  flowers  and  fruit- 
age, loaded  with  agricultural  wealth,  and  crowded 
with  animal  life  of  every  variety.  "We  have  the  gay 


10  OUR  COUNTRY: 

bloom  and  golden  fruit  of  the  tropics,  and  the  glisten- 
ing glaciers  of  the  Kocky  Mountain  heights;  the 
rapid  but  short-lived  vegetation  of  Lake  Champlain, 
and  the  perennial  verdure  of  the  gulf  states.  What- 
ever of  beauty  invites  the  eye  upon  the  plains  of  Italy 
or  on  Alpine  heights,  is  found  here  in  profusion. 

The  splendid  moving  palaces  which  crowd  our  sea- 
board, and  thread  in  all  their  windings  the  Connecti- 
cut, the  Hudson,  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
Missouri,  add  a  new  element  of  beauty  to  the  rock- 
bound  ocean,  and  the  streams  which  rush  from  the 
mountains,  meander  through  the  vales,  and  form  bays 
in  connection  with  the  great  ocean.  The  rapidity  of 
transit  unites  all  extremes,  bringing  together  autumn 
and  spring,  winter  and  summer,  and  heightening  the 
interest  by  the  contrast. 

Hitherto  I  have  dwelt  mostly  upon  the  sources  of 
pleasure  opened  in  the  beautiful  and  interesting 
scenes  presented  to  view  in  such  abundance  in  this 
goodly  land.  Let  us  next  survey  the  resources  of 
this  country  as  it  regards  material  wealth  and  phys- 
ical comfort. 

We  have  a  soil  of  unsurpassed  productiveness,  fur- 
nishing every  variety  of  grains,  grasses,  roots,  and 
fruits  in  luxurious  abundance.  The  hand  of  industry 
is  everywhere  rewarded  with  the  most  ample  yield 
of  food  for  man  and  beast.  Our  commerce  pours  in  a 
ceaseless  tide  of  weulth,  our  merchant  ships  visiting 
every  part  of  the  world,  and  our  sails  whitening  every 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  11 

sea.  Our  mineral  wealth  seems  without  bounds. 
The  gold  of  California,  and  of  the  slopes  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains ;  the  lead  and  copper  of  the  west- 
ern states,  and  the  coal  and  ores  of  Pennsylvania,  are 
sources  of  boundless  wealth  to  the  nation.  Our  man- 
ufactories produce  an  abundance  of  the  means  of  do- 
mestic comfort  and  a  state  of  advanced  civilization. 
Our  artisans  excel  in  skill,  and  our  discoveries  rival 
the  genius  of  the  world.  I  speak  of  all  this  as  sober 
truth,  which  should  call  forth  the  nation's  gratitude, 
and  be  matter  of  just  pride. 

This  glorious  land  is  ours — let  it  never  be  divided. 
Let  no  profane  hand  ever  "  remove  the  ancient  land- 
marks." Let  not  an  inch  of  it  ever  be  conceded  to 
rebellion.  The  politicians  of  Europe  tell  us  that  our 
"  lines  "  embrace  too  much  territory,  that  the  magni- 
tude of  the  great  Republic  endangers  the  peace  of  the 
world,  that  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  be  weak- 
ened by  divisions  and  subdivisions.  The  govern- 
ments of  the  old  world  may  find  out  that  their  peace 
may  not  be  secured  by  their  intermeddling  with  our 
affairs,  and  the  best  way  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the 
world  is  for  them  to  let  us  alone.  As  to  gratifying 
their  wishes  for  a  southern  slaweholding  confederacy, 
it  may  be  done  when  the  patriotism  of  the  nation 
dies  out — never  before.  The  integrity  of  the  whole 
country  is  the  motto  of  every  loyal  citizen,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  in  storm  and  in  sunshine,  in  light  and 
in  darkness,  in  weal  and  in  woe. 


12  OUR  COUNTRY: 

We  have  a  heritage  of  free  institutions. 

Our  fathers,  and  the  God  of  our  fathers,  bequeathed 
to  us  civil  and  religious  liberty.  The  "inalienable 
right  of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  "  is 
accorded  to  all  who  have  not  forfeited  these  inestimable 
blessings  by  crime.  The  only  other  exception  to  the 
rule  is  southern  slavery,  and  this  great  nuisance  is 
rapidly  being  abated,  and  there  is  no  reasonable 
doubt  but  it  will  soon  be  utterly  extinct.  Civil  and 
religious  liberty  is  the  natural  birthright  of  every 
human  being,  and  that  right  is  enjoyed  here  to  a 
greater  extent,  and  with  fewer  exceptions,  than  in 
any  nation  upon  the  globe. 

Liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship  is  an  in- 
valuable privilege.  Here  no  man's  conscience  is 
restricted.  Every  one  may  select  his  own  mode 
of  worshiping  God.  If  his  professed  worship  does 
not  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  other  individuals  or 
the  peace  of  society,  or  violate  the  laws  of  public 
morals,  he  is  left  to  worship  God  "under  his  own 
vine  and  fig-tree,  and  there  is  none  to  molest  or  make 
him  afraid." 

Our  system  of  education  is  Christian  without  being 
sectarian.  The  temple  of  knowledge  is  open  to  all, 
not  excepting  the  poorest  of  the  people.  None  are 
necessarily  ignorant  of  anything  which  is  necessary 
to  make  the  useful  citizen.  The  rich  are  obliged  to 
help  educate  the  poor,  and  to  assist  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  masses ;  thus  contributing  to  the  happi- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  13 

uess  and  usefulness  of  the  people,  and  to  the  greater 
security  of  life  and  property. 

We  have  the  heritage  of  a  true  Church. 

It  is  a  New  Testament  Church. 

The  effete  institutions  which  claim  to  be  the  only 
true  Churches  stand  upon  a  traditionary  succession. 
It  is  claimed  that  these  Churches  were  founded  by 
some  apostle,  and  are  administered  by  his  lineal  suc- 
cessors, and  they  are  the  divinely-appointed  channels 
of  salvation.  It  need  not  be  made  a  question  whether 
Churches  were  founded  by  the  apostles  at  Rome,  at 
Jerusalem,  at  Antioch,  at  Corinth,  at  Alexandria, 
and  many  other  places.  The  question  is,  whether 
those  same  Churches  are  s^ill  alive.  The  question 
who  originally  founded  a  Church  is  not  of  so  much 
importance  as  the  question  whether  it  is  still  u  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone."  Tradi- 
tion is  variable,  doubtful,  and  often  self-contradictory ; 
but  Scripture  is  uniform,  truthful,  and  always  con- 
sistent. A  Church  leaning  upon  Christ  as  the  chief 
corner-stone,  with  the  open  Bible  in  her  hand,  pro- 
claiming "  to  the  law  and  to  the  testimony,  if  they 
speak  not  according  to  this  word  it  is  because  there 
is  no  light  in  them,"  is  a  biblical  Church,  and  conse- 
quently a  true  Church  of  Christ.  The  visible  Church 
of  Christ  is  a  "  congregation  of  faithful  men,  or  of  true 
believers,  in  which  the  pure  word  of  God  is  preached, 


14:  OUR  COUNTRY: 

and  the  sacraments  duly  administered,  according  to 
Christ's  ordinance,  in  all  those  things  which  of  neces- 
sity are  requisite  to  the  same."  Such  a  Church  we 
have,  embracing  all  the  faithful  of  all  evangelical 
denominations. 

It  is  a  spiritual  Church. 

A  pure  Church  is  not  corrupted  by  traditions, 
superstitions,  or  will  worship.  It  is  baptized  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  is  thoroughly  alive.  The  Spirit 
of  God  lives  in  it  and  animates  it.  Such  a  Church  is 
the  Church  of  the  Keformation.  It  is  full  of  puri- 
tanic fire,  and  cherishes  the  old  puritanic  morality 
and  strictness. 

It  is  alleged  in  certain  quarters  that  Puritanism  is 
fanaticism,  cant,  and  hyjrocrisy.  No  greater  slander 
was  ever  uttered.  Puritanism  is  a  love  of  New-Testa- 
ment order,  a  repudiation  of  all  foreign  mixtures  with 
the  Gospel,  the  spirit  of  rational  liberty,  and  a  recog- 
nition of  the  natural  equality  of  men.  The  fact  that 
the  men  of  the  Puritan  stock  hate  slavery,  and  pray 
for  universal  emancipation,  has  brought  this  form  of 
faith  into  great  contempt  at  the  South.  No  form  of 
Christianity  will  pass  current  there  but  that  which 
holds  in  fellowship  "  the  peculiar  institution." 

We  have  a  free  Church,  untrammeled  by  alliances 
with  the  State. 

The  Church  asks  of  the  State  simple  protection, 
and  in  return  she  promises  true  allegiance  and  earn- 
est support.  A  true  Christian  cannot  be  an  enemy 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  15 

to  the  government  which  gives  him  protection  in  the 
exercise  of  the  freedom  of  conscience.  The  Master 
he  serves  commands  him  to  "  render  to  Cesar  the 
things  which  are  Cesar's,  and  to  God  the  things  that 
are  God's,"  and  he  can  no  more  mistake  the  first  of 
these  precepts  than  he  can. violate  the  second. 

Leave  to  the  Church  an  open  field  and  unrestricted 
liberty,  and  she  will  win  her  way  to  universal  empire. 
For  "  the  kingdom,  and  the  dominion,  and  the  great- 
ness of  the  kingdom  under  the  whole  heaven  shall 
be  given  to  the  people  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High, 
whose  kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom,  and  all 
dominions  shall  serve  and  obey  him."  Dan.  vii,  27. 

I  have  said  the  Church  will  render  obedience  for 
protection,  but  I  would  not  by  this  intimate  that  she 
will  turn  rebel  when  she  is  not  protected.  It  was 
under  the  most  tyrannical  rule  that  St.  Paul  issued 
that  noteworthy  precept,  "  Let  every  soul  be  subject 
to  the  higher  power."  Under  ordinary  contingen- 
cies there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a  Christian  rebel. 
Those  who  were  our  Christian  brethren  at  the  South, 
who  have  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  great  rebellion, 
we  are  obliged  to  repudiate  as  apostates  from  the  faith 
and  practices  of  the  Gospel. 

"  The  lines  are  fallen  unto  me  in  pleasant  places ; 
yea,  I  have  a  goodly  heritage."  The  hallowed  scenes 
which  the  Christian  passes  through,  and  which  con- 
tinue to  live  in  his  memory,  associated  with  the 
Church,  give  power  and  reality  to  these  words.  He 


16  OUR  COUNTEY: 

remembers  the  day  of  his  espousal  to  Christ,  recol- 
lects the  songs  of  Zion,  the  fervent  prayers,  and  the 
earnest,  faithful  sermons  to  which  he  has  listened,  and 
exclaims  with  the  Prophet,  "How  goodly  are  thy 
tents,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  O  Israel !"  To 
a  soldier  in.  the  army,  to  a  sailor  at  sea,  to  a  pris- 
oner in  a  loathsome  dungeon,  how  precious  appears 
the  heritage  which  we  enjoy.  Nothing  more  strongly 
marks  the  estimation  in  which  David  held  the  sacred 
courts  of  the  Lord's  house  than  his  longings  for  them 
'after  a  brief  absence  in  the  time  of  Absalom's  rebel- 
lion. He  says,  "  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God.  My 
soul  longeth,  yea,  even  fainteth  for  the  courts  of  the 
Lord."  So  many  blessings,  so  much  sweet  commun- 
ion with  the  saints,  so  many  powerful  demonstrations 
of  truth,  so  many  conversions,  such  overwhelming 
showers  of  salvation,  are  associated  with  the  Church 
of  God,  that  to  the  pious  soul  it  seems  very  near 
heaven. 

The  American  Church  commends  herself  to  the 
American  people.  She  is  comprehensive,  progressive, 
and  effective.  She  is  a  power  in  the  earth.  She  not 
only  has  a  mission  here  at  home,  but  she  extends  her 
benevolence  to  foreign  lands.  Her  sympathies,  like 
the  waves  of  the  ocean,  roll  on  until  they  reach  the 
most  distant  shores.  The  Churches  are  "the  bul- 
warks of  our  land,"  and  are  entitled  to  the  confidence 
of  all  who  seek  the  highest  prosperity  of  the  country 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  17 

and  the  permanency  of  our  free  institutions.  The 
American  Church  has  a  perfect  adaptation  to  the 
breadth  and  progress  of  the  American  Republic. 
Her  missionary  spirit  impels  her  toward  the  setting 
sun.  She  is  essentially  aggressive,  and  actually 
keeps  pace  with  the  tide  of  emigration  westward, 
offering  salvation  to  the  hardy  emigrant  on  the 
Rocky  Mountain  slope  and  the  Pacific  coast.  She 
seeks  the  Indian  in  the  western  wilds,  and  the 
African  in  the  southern  swamps.  She  has  trophies 
gathered  from  every  locality  of  our  broad  land,  and 
every  nationality  of  which  its  heterogeneous  popula- 
tion is  composed.  Let  us  then  sing  with  Dr. 
Dwight : 

"I  love  thy  Church,  0  God! 

Her  walls  before  thee  stand, 
Dear  as  the  apple  of  thine  eye, 

And  graven  on  thy  hand." 

What  a  government  have  we!  How  free,  how 
just,  how  strong !  Who  would  prefer  the  upstart 
despotism  of  Jefferson  Davis,  or  the  weak  republics 
of  Central  America?  We  are  now  contending 
against  a  malignant  usurpation,  secretly  encour- 
aged by  England  and  France,  and  possessed  of  vast 
resources.  The  administration  is  engaged  in  the 
most  gigantic  civil  war  that  history  records,  and  it 
has-  neither  degenerated  into  tyranny,  nor  failed  to 
maintain  itself  through  weakness.  To-day  it  stands 
out  before  the  gaze  of  the  world  a  monument  of  the 

wisdom,  justice,  adaptation,  and  strength  of  a  well- 

2 


18  OUR  COUNTRY: 

balanced  popular  government.  By  however  much 
the  government  has  been  tried  in  the  furnace'  of 
affliction,  by  so  much  the  true  patriot  cleaves  to  it, 
and  pledges  in  its  defense  his  life,  his  fortune,  and  his 
sacred  honor.  His  inmost  soul  is  in  harmony  with 
the  stirring  popular  song  : 

"  Rally  round  the  flag,  boys, 

Spread  it  to  the  breeze, 
Shouting  the  battle-cry  of  freedom." 

Let  tyrants  rage,  and  anarchists  gnash  their  teeth. 
God  will  avenge  our  wrongs,  and  our  glorious  flag 
will  continue  to  wave  over  the  land  of  the  free  and 
the  home  of  the  brave. 

What  free  citizen  of  this  great  Republic  does  not 
feel  that  he  has  reason  to  thank  God  for  his  country. 
Let  him  travel  in  other  countries;  for  instance, 
through  the  German  States,  and  have  his  passport 
demanded  half  a  dozen  times  in  a  day.  Then  let  him 
return  home  and  travel  from  Maine  to  New  Orleans, 
up  the  father  of  waters  to  St.  Paul,  then  let  him 
cross  the  plains  to  California,  then  visit  Oregon  and 
the  partially  settled  territories  on  the  eastern  and 
western  slopes  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  then  let 
him  return  to  his  home  in  the  east,  and  recollect  that 
he  has  traveled  for  thousands  of  miles,  and  has  not 
crossed  the  boundaries  of  his  own  country  and  has 
not  once  been  asked  for  his  passport ;  what  must  be 
his  admiration  of  the  real  sublimity  of  this  great  Re- 
public ?  Would  he  wish  it  cut  up  into  petty  inde- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  19 

pendencies  ?  Would  lie  not  be  willing  to  make  large 
sacrifices,  and  to  strike  heavy  blows,  and  endure  the 
dangers  of  the  camp,  and  the  privations  of  the  prison, 
and  expose  himself  to  death  itself,  rather  than  see  this 
grand  heritage  dismembered  ?  Let  that  tongue  be 
palsied  that  does  not  shout  in  the  highest  key, 
"Long  live  the  glorious  Union  !" 

The  "heritage,"  then,  which  God  has  given  the 
American  people,  embracing  all  the  peoples  who  come 
to  this  land  to  find  a  home,  comprehends  a  country 
almost  boundless  in  extent  and  wealth,  a  government 
founded  upon  popular  rights,  and  a  Church  of  heav- 
en's own  appointment.  A  glorious  inheritance ! 

"  My  country !  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing: 
Land  where  my  fathers  died, 
Land  of  the  pilgrim's  pride, " 
From  every  mountain  side 

Let  freedom  ring. 

"  My  native  coxintry  1  thee, 
Land  of  the  noble  free, 

Thy  name  I  love ; 
I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills : 
My  heart  with  rapture  thrills 

Like  that  above. 

"  Our  fathers'  God !  to  thee, 
Author  of  liberty  I 

To  thee  we  sing: 
Long  may  our  land  be  bright 
With  freedom's  holy  light : 
Protect  us  by  thy  might, 

Great  God, -our  King  !" 


20  OUR  COUNTRY: 


II. 
OBEDIENCE  TO  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT. 

LET  EVERY  SOUL  BE  SUBJECT  UNTO  THE  HIGHER  POWERS.  FOR  THERE  IS 
NO  POWER  BUT  OF  GOD :  THE  POWERS  TEAT  BE  ARE  ORDAINED  OF 
GOD.  WHOSOEVER  THEREFORE  RESISTETH  THE  POWER,  RESISTETII 
THE  ORDINANCE  OF  GOD:  AND  THEY  THAT  RESIST  SHALL  RECEIVE  TO 
THEMSELVES  DAMNATION.  FOR  RULERS  ARE  NOT  A  TERROR  TO  GOOD 
WORKS,  BUT  TO  THE  EVIL.  "WlLT  THOU  THEN  NOT  BE  AFRAID  OF  THE 
POWER  ?  DO  THAT  WHICH  IS  GOOD,  AND  THOU  SHALT  HAVE  PRAISE  OF 
THE  SAME.  FOR  HE  IS  THE  MINISTER  OF  GOD  TO  THEE  FOR  GOOD. 
BUT  IF  THOU  DO  THAT  WHICH  IS  EVIL,  BE  AFRAID  :  FOR  HE  BEARETH 
NOT  THE  SWORD  IN  VAIN :  FOR  HE  IS  THE  MINISTER  OF  GOD,  A  RE- 
VENGER TO  EXECUTE  WRATH  UPON  HIM  THAT  DOETH  EVIL.  "WHERE- 
FORE YE  MUST  NEEDS  BE  SUBJECT,  NOT  ONLY  FOR  WRATH,  BUT  ALSO 
FOR  CONSCIENCE'  SAKE.  FOR,  FOR  THIS  CAUSE  PAY  YE  TRIBUTE  ALSO  : 
FOR  THEY  ARE  GOD'S  MINISTERS,  ATTENDING  CONTINUALLY  UPON 

THIS  VERY  THING. — Rom.  xiii,   1-G. 

THE  origin  ai\d  authority  of  civil  government  are 
at  all  times  important  subjects  of  study,  but  especially 
BO  at  the  present  time.-  And  as  the  apostle  treats 
this  subject  specifically,  it  should  not  be  ignored  by 
the  pulpit.  No  duty  is  more  explicitly  enforced  than 
that  of  obedience  to  the  civil  authority,  and  yet  none 
is  more  lightly  cast  off. 

The  recklessness,  or  the  levity  with  which  our  civil 
obligations  are  often  treated  may  be  the  evil  fruit  of 
infidelity,  but  doubtless  it  is  often  the  result  of  de- 
fective education,  or  of  thoughtlessness.  When  it 
results  from  the  latter  cause,  instruction  and  warning 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  21 

may  be  the  means  of  reformation ;  but  when  it  is  the 
fruit  of  jitter  depravity,  the  case  may  be  considered 
hopeless. 

My  object  in  the  present  discourse  shall  be  to 
arouse  the  conscience  and  to  stimulate  the  activities 
of  such  as  retain  a  reverence  for  God's  word,  but  have 
given  no  special  attention  to  the  moral  and  theo- 
logical bearings  of  this  great  question. 

I  understand  the  text  to  assert, 

That  civil  government  is  a  divine  institution — 
"  The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God." 

Any  form  of  government  which  secures  the  rights 
of  the  governed  is  covered  by  the  apostolic  rule.  The 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  give  preference  to  no 
specific  form  of  government ;  but  while  they  recog- 
nize the  authority  of  government  in  general,'  leave 
the  particular  details  to  the  discretion  of  legislators, 
or  of  the  people. 

Government  always  has  for  its  object,  justice,  the 
protection  of  individual  rights,  and  the  preservation 
of  the  public  peace.  Some  forms  of  government  are 
better  adapted  to  these  ends  than  others ;  but  an  im- 
perfect government  is  vastly  better  than  none.  The 
thing  itself  and  the  ends  it  proposes  are  from  God, 
and  the  imperfections  of  its  forms  do  by.no  means 
vitiate  its  authority. 

This  principle  cannot  be  made  to  cover  such 
abuses  of  civil  authority  as  violate  the  principles  of 


22  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

natural  law  and  natural  justice.  The  ends  of  govern- 
ment are  sometimes  utterly  subverted  by  a  corrupt 
administration,  and  in  such  cases  the  divine  sanction 
of  government  is  no  defense.  The  immorality  and 
the  cruelties  of  Nero  and  Cesar  Borgia  were  simply 
abuses  of  power,  and  not  the  legitimate  exercise  of  the 
functions  of  government. 

Government  is  a  coercive  power.  It  holds  "the 
sword."  It  is  "a  revenger  to  execute  wrath  upon 
him  that  doeth  evil." 

Government  of  necessity  is  invested  with  the  moral 
right  of  its  own  protection,  preservation,  and  perpe- 
tuity. This  right  necessarily  implies  the  right  of 
coercion.  The  end  of  administration  is  the  enforce- 
ment of  obedience  to  law.  This  end  is  accomplished 
by  the  infliction  of  pains  and  penalties,  and  is  entirely 
secured  in  the  proportion  in  which  the  penalties  of 
fiolated  law  are  uniform  and  certain  consequences  of 
crime.  If  the  minister  of  justice  "  beareth  not  the 
sword  in  vain,"  if  there  is  no  compromising  the 
claims  of  law,  nor  escape  from  its  penalties,  govern- 
ment is  then  a  mighty  power  for  good. 

The  supposition  of  a  civil  government  without  the 
power  of  coercion  is  an  absurdity  upon  the  face  of 
it ;  and  coercion  implies  the  power  of  appropriate 
punishment — in  extreme  cases  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  Sacred  as  human  life  is,  it  may  be  taken 
when  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the  govern- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  23 

ment  or  the  public  safety.  It  is  a  fearful  alternative 
to  take  human  life,  but  there  are  alternatives  still 
more  fearful.  It  would  be  a  terrible  thing  to  take 
the  life  of  a  midnight  assassin  in  the  act  of  breaking 
into  your  house ;  but  it  would  be  a  greater  evil  to 
lose  your  life  and  to  have  your  wife  and  children 
murdered.  The  police  of  a  city  would  be  justified 
in  shooting  down  a  gang  of  robbers  who  should  rush 
upon  defenseless  citizens  in  the  quiet  and  helpless- 
ness of  their  nightly  slumbers.  A  nation  is  justified 
in  taking  up  the  sword  and  entering  the  field  of 
deadly  strife  when  invaded  by  a  foreign  foe  or  by 
bands  of  rebels.  War  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
loss  of  liberty  nor  the  annihilation  of  a  nationality. 

All  subjects  and  citizens  are  under  the  most  solemn 
obligations  to  submit  to  the  civil  authority.  "  Let 
every  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers." 

Subjection  or  obedience  to  law  is  necessary  to  the 
existence  of  government,  and  it  is  but  reasonable 
that  we  should  be  subject  to  the  power  that  gives  us 
protection.  If  law  is  set  at  naught,  it  loses  its  power 
of  protection  and  leaves  the  community  in  the  con- 
dition of  anarchy.  "  Resisting  the  power  "  is  "  resist- 
ing the  ordinance  of  God."  Rebellion  against  a 
legitimate  government  is  rebellion  against  God,  and 
a  high  crime.  A  Christian  cannot  be,  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  term,  a  rebel,  nor  can  a  rebel  be  a  Chris- 
tian. An  individual  is  indeed  justified  in  refusing 


24  CUE  COUNTRY  ! 

obedience  to  a  law  which  is  plainly  contrary  to  the 
divine  law.  He  may  say  with  the  apostles  in  a  cer- 
tain case,  "  "Whether  it  is  right  to  obey  man  rather 
than  God,  judge  ye."  If  he  is  restrained  by  his  con- 
science, he  is  bound  to  refuse  obedience,  and,  if  need 
be,  suffer  martyrdom. 

Again,  when  a  government  tramples  upon  the 
rights  of  the  governed,  and  becomes  intolerably  op- 
pressive, and  there  remains  no  other  mode  of  redress, 
the  people  may  resort  to  revolution.  The  resistance 
of  the  American  colonies  to  British  oppression  we 
deem  a  legitimate  assertion  of  their  natural  rights. 
That  admirable  bill  of  rights,  the  Declaration  of 
American  Independence,  has  commanded  the  respect 
of  all  civilized  nations,  and  will  be  admired  through 
all  succeeding  ages.  There  we  have  laid  down  the 
true  grounds  upon  which  a  people  may  throw  off 
despotic  rule  and  fall  back  upon  their  natural  rights. 
In  such  cases  successful  resistance  becomes  revolu- 
tion, and  revolution  involves  the  necessity  of  recon- 
struction. Here  is  a  clear  exception  to  the  obligation 
of  obedience  to  the  civil  power,  but  it  is  altogether  a 
different  case  from  acts  of  treason  and  rebellion 
against  a  just  government,  where  all  grievances  may 
be  redressed  in  an  orderly  manner,  under  constitu- 
tional provisions,  and  the  rights  of  every  man,  every 
class  of  men  and  section,  may  be  maintained  by  law. 

In  a  representative  government  like  ours,  it  is 
indeed  difficult  to  conceive  -of  a  case  in  which  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  25 

redress  of  grievances  is  beyond  the  reach  of  law,  and 
where,  consequently,  rebellion  would  be  justifiable. 
In  all  the  cases  which  may  be  rationally  supposed,  re- 
sistance to  the  constitutional  authorities  would  be  a 
high  crime  against  God  and  against  society. 

We  have  seen  the  apostolic  rule;  we  next  proceed 
to  consider  its  high  sanctions.  "  Not  only  for  wrath 
but  for  conscience'  sake."  "  Do  that  which  is  good 
and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the  same."  "  And  they 
that  resist  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation." 

"We  gather  from  the  language  of  the  apostle  a  three- 
fold motive  to  obedience. 

The  first  I  shall  notice  is  the  approbation  of  con- 
science. This  implies  the  approbation  of  our  better 
judgment.  Enlightened  and  unbiased  conscience  is 
God's  witness,  and  bears  testimony  to  the  truth. 
"When  biased  by  education,  interest,  or  passion,  men 
lose  the  benefit  of  this  clear  light,  and  often  become 
so  blinded  as  to  put  evil  for  good  and  good  for  evil. 
Hence  the  Saviour's  caution :  "  Take  heed  that  the 
light  that  is  in  you  be  not  darkness."  In  this  per- 
verted state  of  the  conscience  men  often  commit  the 
worst  crimes  in  the  name  of  religion,  and  even  mutter 
prayers  while  imbruing  their  hands  in  the  blood  of 
their  brothers.  Saul  verily  thought  that  he  did  God 
service  when  he  persecuted  the  Church;  but  when 
the  light  of  God  shone  upon  him  he  saw  his  error. 
It  is  an  enlightened  and  purified  conscience  which 
bears  true  testimony :  and  such  a  conscience  always 


26  OUR  COUNTRY: 

approves  of  obedience  to  law,  and  makes  the  faithful 
Christian  citizen. 

Secondly.  Duty  to  the  civil  authority  receives  the 
approbation  of  enlightened  public  sentiment.  "Do 
that  which  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  praise  of  the 
same." 

The  approbation  of  the  public  is  sought  as  a  good 
thing ;  but  the  approbation  of  men  in  high  positions 
is  especially  desirable.  Kone  are  so  well  prepared  to 
appreciate  the  loyalty  of  the  worthy  citizen  as  the 
ruler  who  feels  his  responsibility  as  a  "minister  of 
God  for  good."  Fidelity^  to  the  state,  in  his  eye,  is 
something  more  than  a  simple  matter  of  expediency ; 
it  is  a  religious  duty,  and  is  indispensable  to  the  good 
citizen.  To  the  loyal  citizen  he  looks  for  support  in 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  to  him  he  accords  his  con- 
fidence, and  to  him  he  renders  the  meed  of  his  high- 
est praise. 

Thirdly.  The  "  avenger  "  shall  pursue  the  track  of 
the  disloyal  and  the  disturber  of  the  public  peace. 
He  shall  be  surrendered  to  the  sword  of  the  minister 
of  justice,  who  is  divinely  appointed  to  cut  off  capital 
offenders.  In  addition  to  this,  a  fearful  retribution 
awaits  him  hereafter ;  for  such  "  shall  receive  to  them- 
selves damnation."  A  reckoning  of  fearful  signifi- 
cance awaits  the  disturbers  of  public  order.  The 
engines  of  divine  power  will  be  set  in  motion  against 
them,  and  a  storm  of  divine  indignation  will  break 
ivpon  their  heads. 


ITS   TRIAL   AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  27 

Such  is  the  Pauline  doctrine  upon  the  subject  of 
obedience  to  civil  rulers,  and  such  are  the  sanctions 
by  which  it  is  enforced.  In  the  next  place  I  shall 
proceed  to  make  an  application  of  the  teachings  of 
the  apostle  to  existing  national  affairs. 

This  government  is  now  contending  with  a  formi- 
dable rebellion.  Several  states  have  professedly  se- 
ceded and  organized  a  confederation ;  have  seized  a 
vast  amount  of  public  property,  and  levied  war 
against  the  legitimate  government.  Vast  armies  are 
now  in  the  field  upon  both  sides.  Numbers  are  en- 
gaged on  each  side  who  profess  to  be  Christians. 
The  question  with  every  man  who  reverences  the 
Bible  should  be,  What  is  the  morality  of  this  move- 
ment of  the  rebellious  states?  Is  the  biblical  rule 
which  requires  obedience  to  the  civil  authority  ap- 
plicable to  this  case  ?  If  the  present  rebellion  is  such 
an  instance  of  "  resisting  the  power  "  as  the  apostle 
supposes,  no  motives  of  ambition,  policy,  or  interest 
can  either  justify  it,  or  in  the  least  mitigate  the  guilt 
of  its  leaders  and  promoters.  And  I  take  it  upon  me 
to  prove  that  the  seceding  states  are  guilty  of  the  very 
crime  which  the  apostle  condemns. 

The  Constitution  and  government  of  the  United 
States  were  organized  by  our  fathers  in  an  orderly 
manner,  and  adopted  by  the  several  states.  The 
Constitution  and  the  federal  laws  are  paramount 
law  to  the  people.  The  United  States  constitute 
one  government.  The  motto  originally  adopted 


28  OUR  COUNTRY: 

was  "E Pluribus  Unum"  which  truly  expresses  not 
a  mere  theory,  but  a  fact. 

Now  it  is  against  this  government  that  a  portion  of 
the  United  States  are  in  open  rebellion.  Are  they 
not  "resisting  the  power?"  To  this  question  there 
can  be  but  one  answer.  A  justification,  however,  is 
set  up;  and  that  is,  that  the  federal  government  has 
usurped  unconstitutional  powers  and  grievously  op- 
pressed the  southern  states ;  that,  under  the  circum- 
stances, they  are  excepted  from  the  general  rule ;  that 
it  is  a  case  in  whicli  the  governed  have  the  right  of 
resistance,  and  may  resort  to  revolution.  Let  us  hear 
them  patiently : 

1.  They  say  that  the  Northern  states  are  made  up 
of  abolitionists,  who  are  eternally  denouncing  slavery. 
Admitting  all  this,  what  then  ?  Are  not  freedom  of 
thought,  liberty  of  speech,  and  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  essential  to  a  free  government  ?  Are  they  not 
conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  framed  by 
our  fathers  ?  Supposing  we  of  the  North  have  em- 
braced wrong  views  of  human  rights,  and  have  talked 
and  published  too  much  upon  the  subject,  is  this  suf- 
ficient cause  for  breaking  up  the  whole  system  of  the 
government?  "We  are  opposed  to  human  slavery, 
and  so  were  the  fathers  of  the  government ;  and  what 
of  all  that  ?  Has  our  talk,  our  folly,  if  you  please  to 
have  it  so,  oppressed  the  South,  or  so  wrecked  the 
Constitution  that  it  may  now  be  repudiated  by  the 
slave  states  ?  Southern  slaveholders  have  talked  too, 


ITS  TEIAL  AND   ITS    TRIUMPH.  -29 

and  talked  foolishly  enough ;  but  none  of  the  North- 
ern states  has  ever  thought  of  seceding,  and  breaking 
up  the  government  on  that  account.  Fanatics  as  we 
are  accused  of  being,  we  have  not  yet  reached  such  a 
pitch  of  madness  as  that. 

2.  It  is  alleged  that  several  of  the  free  states  have 
refused  to  carry  out  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  in 
contravention  of  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 

• 

have  aided  slaves  in  their  flight  to  Canada,  and  have 
enacted  Personal  Liberty  laws  for  the  protection  of 
fugitives.  Much  is  said  on  these  points  with  very 
little  reason.  Fugitive  slaves  have  been  surrendered 
under  the  fugitive  law  from  most  of  the  free  states. 

zj  f 

and  the  Personal  Liberty  laws  of  the  states  where 
such  exist  were  enacted  to  prevent  the  kidnapping  of 
free  persons  of  color.  And  if  any  of  them  contravene 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  they  may  be  set 
aside  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
For  these  alleged  violations  of  Southern  rights  there 
are  ample  remedies  provided,  to  which  the  Southern 
people  might  resort  were  they  disposed  so  to  do. 
A  majority  of  the  judges  of  the  Federal  Court  have 
long  been  in  favor  of  what  is  called  Southern  rights, 
and,  as  is  evident  in  the  decision  of  the  Dred  Scott 
case,  have  not  been  indisposed  to  favor  the  South  as 
far  as  possible. 

3.  It  is  made  a  grave  matter  of  complaint  that  the 
representatives  in*  Congress  from  the  free  states  are 
opposed  to  the  admission  of  any  more  slave  states  into 


30  OUR  COUNTRY: 

the  Union,  and  wish  to  exclude  slavery  from  the  free 
territories.  Even  so.  And  is  not  this  a  fair  subject 
of  debate  ?  Does  the  Constitution  forbid  this  opposi- 
tion to  the  desires  of  the  South  to  extend  the  area  of 
slavery?  What  constitutional  right  has  slavery  in 
the  territories,  or  what  right  of  indefinite  extension  ? 
Should  Congress,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  say  to  slav- 
ery, "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further,  and 
here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed,"  what  provis- 
ions of  the  federal  compact  would  thereby  be  viola- 
ted? Clearly  there  is  nothing  in  any  of  these 
allegations  to  justify  or  even  in  the  slightest  degree 
palliate  rebellion.  Here  is  no  oppression,  no  invasion 
of  Southern  rights;  and  there  is  no  possibility  of 
grievances  for  which  a  remedy  is  not  provided  in  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws. 

"What,  then,  is  the  real  occasion  of  this  dreadful 
outbreak  ? 

We  must  not  ignore  another  grievance,  and  that  is, 
that  the  people  have  elected  a  "  black  republican  " 
president!  Well,  had  not  the  free  electors  of  the 
TJnited  States  a  right  to  elect  whom  they  pleased  ? 
Must  the  majority  submit  to  the  dictation  of  the  mi- 
nority in  selecting  a  president  ?  There  was  nothing 
in  the  character  or  precedents  of  Mr.  Lincoln  which 
threatened  Southern  rights,  no  overt  act  to  be  com- 
plained of.  He  is  not  allowed  so  much  as  to  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  his  office  before  tfie  South  inaugu- 
rates rebellion.  O  tempora !  O  mores  ! 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  31 

The  real  cause  of  this  rebellion,  and  the  philosophy 
of  the  whole  movement,  are  to  be  found  in  the  simple 
fact  that  the  free  states  have  the  long  arm  of  the 
lever,  and  have  finally  made  up  their  minds  not  to  be 
dictated  to  and  governed  by  a  minority.  Southern  pol- 
iticians, who  have  hitherto  controlled  the  government 
by  wire-pulling  and  chicanery,  have  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  their  game  is  played  out,  and  that  hence- 
forth their  numbers  and  the  justice  of  their  cause  are 
to  be  the  measure  of  their  power,  and  hence  they 
pause,  secede,  and  set  up  for  themselves.  They  were 
in  a  fair  way  to  lose  control  of  the  government  and 
the  spoils  of  office,  and  could  not  brook  it.  Now, 
forsooth,  the  poor,  abused,  oppressed,  insulted  South 
strikes  for  freedom  and  justice,  takes  up  arms,  and  ap- 
peals to  the  God  of  battles  to  maintain  the  right ! 
They  cry  aloud  for  vengeance ;  they  pray  for  help, 
and  march  to  the  field  of  deadly  strife  to  redeem  their 
injured  honor ! 

Is  not  this  a  grand  farce  ?  Before  the  civilized 
world,  under  the  light  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
before  high  Heaven,  these  men  openly  rebel  against 
the  best  government  that  ever  was  constituted  since 
the  world  began,  for  no  good  reason  whatever !  This 
is  a  stupendous  crime. 

I  take  the  position  that  armed  resistance  to  an 
armed  rebellion  is  right,  and  that  it  is  the  solemn 
duty  of  the  government. 

If  the  civil  power  "  bears  not  the  sword  in  vain," 


32  OUR  COUNTRY: 

here  is  an  occasion  for  its  being  drawn  from  the  scab- 
bard. The  war  on  the  part  of  the  government  is  a 
necessary  and  a  righteous  war,  one  for  whose  success 
a  Christian  may  devoutly  pray  to  a  God  who  loves 
justice  and  punishes  outrageous  wickedness.  It  is 
strictly  a  defensive  war.  It  is  for  the  defense  of  the 
public  property,  the  defense  of  the  capital,  the  defense 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  defense  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  the  defense  of  our  nationality. 
It  is  a  war  for  a  government  against  anarchy ;  a  war 
for  freedom  against  usurpation  and  despotism.  If 
government  has  a  divine  commission  to  protect  itself, 
and  protect  the  weak  and  the  helpless  against  op- 
pression and  despotic  rule,  the  government  of  the 
United  States  is  bound  to  oppose  force  to  force,  and 
to  crush  out  this  foul  spirit  of  rebellion.  It  is  a  war 
of  civilization  against  barbarism,  of  liberty  against 
slavery,  of  order  against  confusion,  of  right  against 
wrong.  If  ever  the  sword  was  drawn  in  a  holy  cause, 
it  is  so  in  the  present  war  of  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment against  the  great  southern  rebellion. 

The  crimes  of  the  rebels  against  the  government 
are  most  flagrant — their  insolence  is  beyond  en- 
durance. 

"What  are  the  issues  between  the  parties?  The 
government  has  been  over-indulgent  to  the  South. 
She  has  had  an  iindue  proportion  of  its  patronage, 
and  an  unreasonable  amount  of  special  legislation  for 
her  benefit.  All  the  legislation  of  Congress  on  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  33 

subject  of  slavery  has  been  for  its  protection.  In 
this  the  convictions  of  the  North  have  often  been 
violated  and  her  conscience  sorely  wonnded.  All 
this  we  have  borne  with  as  good  a  grace  as  pos- 
sible. Southern  politicians  in  the  halls  of  Congress 
have  been  overbearing,  insulting,  ruffianly,  and  amid 
all  these  provocations  they  have  been  endured.  They 
have  robbed  the  public  treasury,  stripped  the  govern- 
ment of  its  arms  and  munitions  of  war,  and,  hurling 
defiance  in  its  teeth,  have  inaugurated  rebellion. 

More  recently,  the  southern  rebels  have  insulted 
the  national  flag,  taken  forcible  possession  of  our 
forts,  arsenals,  mints,  and  government  vessels;  and, 
to  cap  the  climax  of  their  crimes  against  civilization, 
their  pretended  government  has  authorized  a  system 
of  piracy  on  our  commerce  upon  the  highway  of  na- 
tions. What  more  can  they  do  to  characterize  them- 
selves as  a  huge  band  of  brigands  and  outlaws  ?  This 
grand  scheme  of  rebellion  and  wholesale  plunder  has 
been  years  maturing,  and  has  the  aggravation  of 
being  a  matter  of  cool  deliberation.  The  worst  pas- 
sions have  been  enlisted,  but  the  final  action  has  been 
the  result  of  malice  aforethought. 

This  war  is  sure  to  result  in  the  destruction  and 
overthrow  of  the  rebels. 

God  is  against  them.  They  "  resist  the  ordinance 
of  God,  and  shall  receive  to  themselves  damnation." 
Their  controversy  is  with  God,  and  he  will  judge 

them.     If  our  government  has  so  grievously  offended 

3 


34  OUR  COUNTRY: 

that  it  is  deemed  unworthy  to  be  the  instrument  of 
Divine  vengeance,  some  other  instrumentality  will 
be  employed  to  confound  their  counsels,  scatter  their 
forces,  and  wind  up  their  career  of  wickedness  and 
shame.  The  lightnings  of  Divine  indignation  will 
shiver  them,  and  the  fierce  storms  of  resistless  power 
will  scatter  them  to  the  winds  of  heaven.  Should 
the  rebellion  for  a  time  be  attended  with  success,  it 
will  nevertheless  meet  with  ultimate  defeat.  Partial 
triumph  will  only  make  final  ruin  more  complete 
and  overwhelming. 

It  is  a  fearful  reckoning  that  awaits  the  usurpers 
and  petty  despots  of  the  South  when  they  shall  pass 
from  the  present  scene  of  things  to  eternal  retribu- 
tion. The  violence  they  employ,  the  blood  they  shed, 
the  hearts  they  break,  the  tide  of  woe  they  drive  over 
the  land,  the  anguish  of  the  dying  upon  the  battle- 
field, the  tears  and  groans  of  helpless  widows  and 
orphans,  the  voice  of  "lamentation  and  mourning 
and  woe  "  from  mothers  "  mourning  for  their  chil- 
dren and  refusing  to  be  comforted  because  they  are 
not,"  shall  bring  down  upon  them  a  storm  of  venge- 
ance. That  vengeance  will  surely  come.  "They 
have  sown  the  wind,  and  they  shall  reap  the  whirl- 
wind." "  They  shall  receive  to  themselves  damna- 
tion." What  waves  of  sorrow,  remorse,  and  shame 
shall  come  back  upon  the  actors  in  this  dreadful 
tragedy  it  is  not  for  us  now  to  know.  "We  leave 
them  in  the  hands  of  eternal  justice,  assured  that  a 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  35 

righteous  retribution  will  finally  overtake  them. 
Their  sins  have  darkened  the  heavens  and  made  the 
earth  tremble,  and  their  punishment  will  be  a  warn- 
ing to  traitors  and  rebels  in  all  after  ages.  They 
have  made  a  page  of  history  which  they  will  ere  long 
wish  to  blot,  but  which  will  stand  against  them,  and 
will  be  the  handwriting  upon  the  wall  which  will 
make  their  knees  smite  together.  O  that  they  might 
pause  where  they  are,  before  the  cup  of  their  iniquity 
is  quite  filled !  As  unhappy  men,  we  pray  for  them ; 
we  pity  them  as  poor  wretched  sinners ;  but  we  must 
meet  them  upon  the  ensanguined  field  as  enemies, 
with  sharp  steel,  whistling  bullets,  and  thundering 
cannon.  A  fearful  alternative  this,  but  not  so  great 
an  evil  as  slavery,  the  loss  of  nationality,  and  a  retro- 
gression of  Christian  civilization  back  into  the  dark 
ages. 

Fellow-citizens,  while  southern  traitors  resist  "  the 
higher  powers,"  let  us  obey  and  fight !  yes,  fight 
bravely— -fight  like  Christian  heroes,  and  may  God 
give  us  the  victory  !  Amen. 


36  OUE  COUNTRY: 


III. 
THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES. 

0  YE  HYPOCRITES,  YE  CAN  DISCERN  THE  FACE  OP  THE  SKY,  BUT  CAN  YE 
NOT  DISCERN  THE  SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES? — Matt.  Xvi,  3. 

IT  seems  to  be  assumed  by  the  Saviour  that  it  is 
easy  to  discern  the  signs  of  the  times ;  much  easier 
than  to  understand,  from  the  appearances  in  the 
heavens,  the  probabilities  of  storm  or  of  sunshine. 
Some  appearances  in  the  face  of  the  sky  are  prog- 
nostics of  fair  weather,  others  of  foul  weather.  These 
signs  may  require  some  study  and  observation ;  yet 
we  may  learn  to  discern  them.  Why  do  we  not  un- 
derstand the  more  palpable  indications  in  the  moral 
heavens?  Is  it  not  because  of  some  defect  in  our 
spiritual  vision  ?  The  terrible  epithet  "  hypocrite  " 
here  implies  that  there  is  some  false  pretension  in  the 
matter.  The  point  of  the  falsehood,  in  this  case,  may 
be  the  profession  of  inability  to  discern  the  signs 
which  Providence  displays  of  coming  events,  or  of  the 
present  condition  of  things,  and  in  the  demand  for 
some  miraculous  revelation.  The  face  of  the  sky  is 
more  enigmatical  and  doubtful  than  these  times. 
You  understand  the  indications  of  the  more  difficult, 
and  how  is  it  that  you  do  not  understand  the  fore- 


ITS  TRIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  37 

shadowings  of  that  which  is  even  plainer,  but  must 
have  a  sign  from  heaven  ? 

"We  shall  take  occasion,  from  this  text,  to  indicate 
the  signs  which  loom  up  in  the  present  condition  and 
the  future  prospects  of  the  Church  and  the  world. 

Mark  the  civil  and  political  condition  of  our  own 
country. 

There  are  unmistakable  signs  of  great  depravity. 

The  present  rebellion  is  an  evidence  of  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  national  heart.  How  could  it  have  been 
matured,  and  have  reached  its  present  gigantic  pro- 
portions, without  a  deep  and  widespread  sympathy 
in  the  country  ?  How  could  the  rebels  in  the  cabinet 
and  in  Congress  ever  have  dared  to  broach  their  her- 
esies, and  to  commit  the  overt  act  of  treason,  but  for 
an  idea  that  the  nation  was  corrupt,  and  that  the  pa- 
triotism of  the  olden  time  had  forsaken  us,  or  had  be- 
come weak  and  sickly?  Unprincipled  themselves, 
they  judged  that  a  large  portion  of  the  people  were 
like  themselves;  and  the  state  of  political  morality 
warranted  the  conclusion  not  only  that  the  Union 
could  be  dissolved  and  the  nation  broken  to  pieces, 
but  that  they  could  forswear  themselves,  and  rob, 
plunder,  and  murder,  on  the  most  gigantic  scale,  in 
the  name  of  liberty  and  justice.  Sin  is  never  so  dar- 
ing when  it  is  not  warmed  into  life  by  the  sympathy 
of  numbers. 

The  extreme  corruption  of  party  politics  in  the 

461835 


38  OUR  COUNTRY: 

country  is  moreover  evident  from  the  rancor  -with 
which  political  discussions  are  conducted,  and  the 
villainous  measures  which  are  resorted  to  in  order  to 
gain  and  maintain  the  ascendancy  of  a  party.  False- 
hood and  slander,  buying  and  selling  votes,  and  flat- 
tering and  fooling  the  ignorant,  especially  foreigners, 
are  the  common  tactics  of  professional  politicians. 
The  abominable  maxim  that  "  all  is  fair  in  politics  " 
has  been  practiced  upon  by  all  political  parties,  and 
the  popular  mind  has  become  debased  by  the  lies  of 
unprincipled  party  hacks. 

Undoubtedly  some  will  charge  me  with  preaching 
politics  instead  of  the  Gospel.  I  do  not  intend  any 
such  thing.  I  claim  the  right,  as  a  minister  of  Christ, 
to  bear  a  faithful  testimony  against  wickedness 
wherever  found.  The  vices  of  trade,  the  vices  of  the 
professions,  and  the  vices  of  politicians  as  well,  are 
legitimate  objects  of  stricture  from  the  pulpit.  When 
the  watchmen  become  such  "  dumb  dogs  "  that  they 
cannot  or  dare  not  sound  the  note  of  alarm  when 
the  simple  are  liable  to  be  deceived,  and  the  masses 
to  be  corrupted  by  the  trickery  of  politicians,  both 
the  State  and  the  Church  will  become  demoralized. 

That  selfish  and  unprincipled  men  so  often  suc- 
ceed in  blinding  and  enslaving  the  people  is  a  proof 
that  the  people  need  more  information  and  inde- 
pendence. 

The  success  of  a  republican  government  must  ever 
depend  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  of 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  39 

the  masses.  In  theory  we  govern  ourselves.  All  are 
sovereigns.  We  make  our  decisions  at  the  ballot 
box.  The  man  who  goes  to  the  polls  an  unintelligent 
tool  is  not  fit  to  exercise  the  high  functions  of  a  voter. 
A  simple  story  will  illustrate  the  point :  At  the  battle 
of  Antietam  a  Union  soldier  was  deprived  of  his  eye- 
sight by  a  ball  which  crossed  the  bridge  of  his  nose. 
He  wished  to  get  away  from  the  bloody  field,  but 
could  not  see  his  way,  and  no  help  came.  He  heard 
a  poor  fellow,  who  was  wounded,  moaning  not  far 
away.  He  called  to  him,  and,  crawling  to  him  on 
his  hands  and  knees,  found  him  to  be  a  rebel,  and  to 
be  wounded  in  one  of  his  legs.  "  Well,"  said  he, 
"  you  want  to  get  off  of  the  field,  and  so  do  I.  You 
can  see,  can  you  ?"  "  Yes,  I  can  see,  but  I  can't 
walk."  "  Well,"  said  the  Yankee,  "I  can  walk,  but 
can't  see ;  now  I  will  take  you  on  my  back,  and  you 
shall  tell  me  where  to  go."  The  blind  Yankee  took 
the  lame  rebel  upon  his  back  and  went  on  until  he 
found  himself  in  a  rebel  colonel's  tent !  Kow  it  was 
the  poor  Yankee's  misfortune,  not  his  fault,  that  he 
came  into  the  power  of  the  enemy.  But  he  who  al- 
lows these  limping  politicians  to  fasten  themselves 
upon  his  back,  and  put  both  hands  over  his  eyes,  will 
go  to  certain  destruction,  and  will  be  a  voluntary  vic- 
tim of  their  wiles.  There  are  enough  of  this  sort  who 
desire  the  stalwart  laboring  classes  to  carry  them  into 
office.  They  fasten  themselves  upon  their  dupes, 
saying,  "  You  must  have  no  eyes  of  your  own".  I 


40  OTJK  COUNTRY: 

will  tell  yon  where  to  go."  On  they  go  with  their 
precious  burdens  until  they  bring  them  in  safety  to 
their  desired  place  of  rest,  and  then  they  are  left  to 
shift  for  themselves  until  another  emergency  arises. 
This  is  a  humiliating  picture,  and  God  only  knows 
where  this  vicious  policy  is  to  terminate. 

There  are  signs  of  immense  resources  in  the 
country. 

The  expenses  of  the  present  war  have  been  im- 
mense, and  yet  there  are  no  signs  of  exhaustion  in  the 
resources  of  the  government.  English  politicians  pre- 
dicted that  the  war  would  soon  exhaust  our  credit, 
and  the  "  London  Times  "  warned  English  capitalists 
not  to  lend  us  money.  As  yet  the  government  has 
carried  on  the  war  without  asking  English  capitalists 
for  a  penny,  and  the  national  resources  have  scarcely 
been  touched.  Under  the  blessings  of  heaven  the 
nation  has  been  growing  rich  for  the  last  ten  years  to 
an  unparalleled  extent ;  as  though  God  had  been  pre- 
paring her  for  the  present  fearful  struggle.  We  have 
plenty,  money  is  easy,  labor  is  well  rewarded,  and  so 
far  as  the  means  of  living  are  concerned,  scarcely  any 
one  feels  the  pressure  of  the  war. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  nation  has  great  power 
of  resistance. 

The  rebellion  took  the  nation  by  surprise.  The 
leading  cabinet  officers  were  in  sympathy  with  it,  and 
the  whole  course  of  the  administration  was  calculated 
to  cripple  the  arm  and  palsy  the  heart  of  the  nation. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  41 

The  treasury  was  exhausted,  the  navy  scattered 
to  the  four  winds,  the  army  distributed  among  the 
southern  forts,  under  the  command  of  southern 
officers,  and,  the  arms  and  munitions  of  war  sent 
south.  Such  was  the  condition  of  things  when  the 
war  broke  out. 

The  rebellion  assumed  gigantic  proportions,  and 
had  the  sympathies  of  France  and  England,  but  has 
been  withstood  now  into  the  third  year.  We  have 
created  a  splendid  navy,  have  raised  vast  armies,  and 
have  steadily  gained  ground  upon  the  rebellion,  until 
it  has  lost  nearly  one  half  of  its  territory,  and  is  stag- 
gering to  its  fall.  The  free  states  have  several  times 
been  invaded,  but  in  every  instance  the  invaders  have 
been  met  and  hurled  back  with  vast  losses  of  men  and 
munitions  of  war.  The  capital  has  often  been  threat- 
ened, and  has  sometimes  been  in  danger,  but  is  now 
safe  against  all  probable  contingencies. 

There  are  signs,  which  cannot  be  mistaken,  of 
the  downfall  of  the  institution  of  slavery  in  this 
country. 

The  war  waged  by  the  rebels  for  the  perpetuation 
of  slavery  is  fast  working  its  ruin.  Already  sentence 
has  gone  out  against  the  great  abomination.  It  has 
received  its  deadly  wound,  and  will  expire  with  the 
termination  of  the  rebellion.  There  never  was  a 
more  fatal  infatuation  than  that  which  moved  the 
slave  states  to  rebellion.  If  they  had  designed  to 
make  a  speedy  end  of  "  the  peculiar  institution 


42  OUR  COUNTRY: 

• 

could  not  have  devised  more  effectual  measures  than 
to  engage  in  open  rebellion  against  the  government. 
If  the  great  traders  in  this  stupendous  wickedness 
had  not  been  judicially  blinded  they,  would  have 
foreseen  what  has  come  upon  them.  There  is  truth 
in  the  principle  expressed  in  the  old  heathen  maxim : 
"  "Whom  the  gods  design  to  destroy  they  first  make 
mad." 

There  is  a  glorious  future  in  reserve  for  the  poor 
degraded  and  down-trodden  children  of  Africa. 
So  far  all  the  predictions  of  the  pro-slavery  party 
have  failed.  With  them  it  was  a  fixed  fact  that  the 
emancipation  proclamation  would  bring  on  a  servile 
insurrection ;  that  the  blacks  would  not  make  sol- 
diers ;  that  white  men  would  not  fight  in  the  same 
army  with  them,  and  the  like ;  all  of  which  has 
been  falsified  by  history.  The  signs  to-day  are 
that  the  African  slaves  of  the  South  will  constitute 
an  important  arm  of  the  service,  and  that  put- 
ting arms  in  their  hands  will  prove  to  be  the  first 
step  of  their  onward  march  to  the  condition  of  true 
manhood. 

No  nation  has  ever  been  subjected  to  a  severer  test, 
and  none  could  have  borne  itself  more  nobly  under 
the  trial.  And  this  she  has  done  with  a  large  and 
influential  minority  in  stern  opposition  to  the  policy 
of  the  administration.  Partially  crippled  by  opposi- 
tion at  home,  still  the  government  has  astonished  the 
worm  with  the  splendor  of  its  achievements.  A 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  43 

greater  pressure  never  bore  on  the  heart  of  a  nation, 
and  a  more  majestic  resistance  was  never  made  to  a 
hostile  power. 

There  are  evident  signs  of  the  early  triumph  of 
the  national  cause,  and  a  future  of  great  prosperity. 

God  can  make  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  him  and 
restrain  the  remainder.  He  knows  when  to  over- 
rule and  when  to  restrain.  He  is  not  in  haste  in  his 
providential  arrangements.  They  are  often  covered 
with  the  vail  of  uncertainty  for  a  long  time.  Na- 
tions as  well  as  individuals  are  often  disciplined  by 
delay,  and  required  to  walk  by  faith  and  not  by 
sight.  He  reads  Providence  to  little  profit  who  in- 
terprets delays  and  partial  reverses  as  indications  of 
final  failure.  The  star  of  hope  often  glimmers 
through  stormy  clouds,  and  a  lowering  sky  may  give 
place  to  bright  sunshine. 

The  national  firmament  is  brightening,  and  hope 
gilds  the  whole  heavens.  If,  as  the  signs  of  the  times 
seem  to  foreshadow,  the  gigantic  rebellion  with  which 
the  government  is  now  contending  shall  be  put  down 
by  the  present  administration,  this  result  will  be  one 
of  the  most  splendid  passages  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  will  prove  that  republics  are  not  neces- 
sarily weak,  and  that  an  administration  constitution- 
ally elected  by  the  people,  although  opposed  by  a 
strong  minority,  can  stand  against  a  local  rebellion 
of  terrible  power  and  at  the  same  time  against  pj^ty 
factions  within  its  own  acknowledged  jurisdiction. 


4A  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

Let  us  survey  the  nations  of  the  old  world  and  see 
what  the  signs  of  the  times  are  there. 

There  are  signs  of  corruption  there. 

The  nations  of  Europe  rival  us  in  falsehood.  How 
fearfully  have  they  falsified  all  the  facts  which  have 
made  up  the  history  of  the  present  struggle !  Have  En- 
gland and  France  tried  to  do  us  justice  ?  They  have 
refused  to  acknowledge  our  victories,  or  have  turned 
them  into  defeats.  England  especially  has  misrepre- 
sented our  generals  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and 
charged  them  with  crimes  which  they  never  commit- 
ted; has  laughed  at  us  for  fighting  bloodless  bat- 
tles ;  and  then  has  affected  to  weep  over  the  whole- 
sale slaughter  and  savage  cruelties  of  our  sanguine 
encounters.  England  and  France  both  have  been 
wanting  in  good  faith  as  neutral  powers.  They  have 
encouraged  the  rebellion ;  they  have  played  into  the 
hands  of  the  rebels.  Englishmen  have  helped  them 
to  a  navy,  and  have  been  largely  concerned  in  a  con- 
traband trade  with  their  blockaded  ports.  So  long 
as  by  agitating  the  subject  of  slavery  she  could  create 
dissatisfaction  at  the  south  she  was  for  abolition ;  but 
when  the  slaveholders  rebelled  she  became  the  advo- 
cate of  slavery,  that  she  might  help  the  South  to 
achieve  its  independence.  An  ardent  friend  of  abo- 
lition, as  England  always  claimed  to  be,  a  slavehold- 
ing  empire  in  the  southern  states  to  her  is  preferable 
to  a  mighty  free  republic  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

lew  years  ago  she  sent  over  George  Thompson  and 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  45 

others  to  preach  up  abolition,  and  to  agitate  the 
country  on  the  subject  of  the  horrors  of  African 
slavery ;  now  she  seeks  to  make  this  terrible  evil  per- 
petual. In  this  England  seems  to  be  inconsistent, 
but  she  is  fearfully  and  wickedly  consistent.  In  both 
cases  she  seeks  to  promote  the  spirit  of  the  rebellion  at 
the  south  and  effect  a  permanent  separation  of  the 
slave  states  from  the  free  states,  that  the  great  republic 
may  no  longer  be  a  formidable  rival.  A  strong  and 
prosperous  republic  is  a  greater  evil  in  the  view  of 
English  statesmen  than  African  slavery.  The  daugh- 
ter has  grown  too  fast  and  acquired  too  much  wealth 
and  power  to  suit  the  old  mother,  hence  her  posses- 
sions must  be  divided,  and  constitute  two  weak  gov- 
ernments instead  of  one  strong  one. 

France  sympathizes  with  England  in  her  general 
policy  toward  us,  but  pursues  another  route  to  en- 
compass the  same  object.  Intervention  in  Mexico 
undoubtedly  has  for  its  object  the  limitation  of  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  American  Republic. 
France  was  our  old  ally,  but  is  now  becoming  our 
most  formidable  foe.  She  was  our  friend  when  we 
wrere  weak,  but  now  that" we  have  become  strong  she 
turns  against  us,  but  not  until  we  become  divided 
among  ourselves.  There  is  a  meanness  about  this 
that  French'pride  ought  to  scorn.  She  becomes  pur 
foe,  and  seeks  to  strike  us  with  a  fatal  blow  when  our 
hands  are  tied  and  we  are  in  a  manner  helpless ; 
while  we  have  full  employment  with  the 


46  OUR  COUNTRY : 

she  assumes  a  threatening  attitude.  This  is  the  time, 
says  Napoleon  III.,  to  humble  the  pride  and  break 
the  power  of  the  fast-growing  republic,  and  I  will 
begin  by  annihilating  the  Monroe  doctrine.  This 
doctrine  disposed  of,  I  will  watch  the  opportunity 
for  striking  a  blow  at  a  more  vital  part  and  bring 
American  progress  to  an  end..  Little  comfort  will 
come  to  him  by  his  policy  in  the  long  run. 

There  are  signs  of  weakness  in  the  two  great 
powers,  to  which  we  principally  confine. our  remarks 
under  this  head. 

The  jealousy  and  envy,  which  are  but  poorly  con- 
cealed in  the  English  and  French  governments,  in 
view  of  American  prosperity,  can  originate  in  noth- 
ing so  much  as  a  sense  of  weakness  in  themselves. 
We  are  not  jealous  of  those  far  below  us,  nor  do  we 
envy  the  weak  or  the  degraded.  It  is  as  a  com- 
petitor, a  dangerous  rival,  that  those  proud  nations 
watch  us  with  an  evil  eye.  Their  leading  papers  say 
that  united  we  are  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the 
world,  but  divided  into  two  hostile  governments  they 
can  take  care  of  us.  An  alliance  with  one  part  will 
enable  them  to  manage  the  other.  Hence  they  have 
done  everything  by  way  of  encouraging  the  rebellion 
except  to  send  armies  to  sustain  it. 

These  nations  are  jealous  of  each  other.' 

They  are  perpetually  watching  the  balance  to  see 
where  the  evidence  of  the  greatest  weight  concen- 
triffes.  England  and  France  went  into  an  expensive 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  47 

war  ostensibly  to  protect  a  weak  ally,  but  really  to 
prevent  Russia  from  becoming  too  strong.  They 
have  an  alarming  sense  of  lightness,  and  when  an- 
other power  becomes  a  little  more  ponderous  they 
fear  they  will  go  up.  France  and  England  are  rival 
powers,  but  at  present  they  are  in  close  and  intimate 
fellowship.  The  reason  is,  they  can,  by  a  close  and 
intimate  union,  best  secure  their  own  ambitious  ends. 
They  each  wish  to  hold  in  check  Russia  and  Ameri- 
ca, an  object  which,  singly  and  alone,  neither  of  them 
would  be  able  to  effect.  A  common  interest  will 
drive  together  thieves  and  cutthroats,  but  when  the 
occasion  has  passed  they  will  rob  and  murder  each 
other. 

It  is  a  fair  question,  "What  right  has  one  nation  to 
set  bounds  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  another  ? 
If  my  neighbor  makes  money  faster  than  I  do,  have 
I  any  right  to  abridge  his  income  or  his  power  of 
accumulation  ?  An  individual  has  as  mucli  right  to 
insist  on  the  balance  of  power  as  a  nation  has  ;  why 
not? 

Let  us  survey  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the 
Church. 

In  comparison  with  the  other  institutions  and 
interests  in  this  great  world  the  Church  occupies  the 
highest  elevation.  It  is  made  up  of  believers,  pro- 
fessedly sanctified  men  and  women.  It  is  the  school 
in  which  we  are  prepared  for  the  heavenly  state,  it 


48  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

is  then  a  question  of  the  highest  interest,  What  are 
the  signs  which  indicate  the  present  status  and  the 
future  progress  of  the  Church  ? 

First  of  all  let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  Asia,  the 
cradle  of  Christianity. 

Although  the  sacred  places  have  been  trodden  down 
by  the  foot  of  Mohammedans  for  a  thousand  years, 
and  the  old  Greek  literature  and  civilization  have  been 
nearly  annihilated,  a  few  sparks  of  the  old  Jerusalem 
fire  are  beginning  to  show  themselves  in  Palestine,  in 
Syria,  in  Armenia,  and  in  Persia.  India  has  been  a 
field  of  missionary  labors  and  missionary  designs  for 
more  than  forty  years.  The  great  Chinese  wall  is 
broken  down,  and  European  civilization  and  the  mis- 
sionary are  there.  Japan  will  soon  be  a  missionary 
field,  where  the  Bible  will  be  read,  Christ  will  be 
preached,  and  converts  to  Christianity — that  religion 
hated  and  persecuted  since  the  days  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries — will  be  multiplied  like  the  drops  of  the 
morning.  Asia  will  be  restored.  The  work  is  pro- 
gressing, and  the  star  of  hope  shines  gloriously  in 
the  distance. 

"We  come  next  to  Africa  —  poor,  degraded,  and 
down-trodden  Africa. 

Christian  colonies  are  planted  upon  the  southern 
and  western  coasts  of  the  land  of  Ham.  From  the 
interior  the  Macedonian  cry  is  heard,  "  Come  over 
and  help  us."  "Ethiopia  is  stretching  forth  her 
hands  unto  God."  The  enslavement  of  the  African 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  49 

race,  which  has  scattered  her  children  over  the  west- 
ern hemisphere,  is  fast  being  overruled  by  the  provi- 
dence of  God  for  h'er  Christianization  and  the  resto- 
ration of  her  ancient  civilization.  The  Christian 
republic  of  Liberia  is  now  exerting  an  influence  far 
back  among  her  wild  and  wandering  tribes,  while 
Christian  travelers  are  penetrating  her  vast  and  long- 
hidden  and  unknown  center,  and  opening  the  way 
for  the  commerce  of  the  civilized  world  and  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel.  A  spirit  of  deep  and  earnest 
inquiry  is  found  among  the  tribes  and  petty  states  of 
the  African  race  furthest  away  from  European  civil- 
ization. All  this  shows  that  the  day  of  her  redemp- 
tion is  at  hand. 

We  next  take  a  glance  at  Europe. 

As  we  are  returning  from  the  East,  we  will  first 
notice  Italy.  Rome  once  gave  law  to  the  world ; 
now  she  is  the  center  of  a  base  kingdom.  Italy  has 
recently  made  great  advances  toward  liberal  institu- 
tions, but  the  temporal  power  of  the  pope  is  an  incubus 
upon  her  heart.  She  is  struggling  to  relieve  herself 
of  this  intolerable  burden,  but  is  met  with  French 
bayonets  If  Louis  Napoleon  should  take  his  hand 
off  from  Italy  she  would  be  free  in  a  day.  That 
proud  but  weak  ecclesiastic  Pius  IX.  rules  his  estates 
not  with  masses  and  groans  and  allocutions,  but 
through  the  instrumentality  of  a  foreign  police.  The 
press,  speech,  and  worship  are  made  to  conform  to 
an  antiquated  policy  and  an  effete  system  of  will- 


50  OUR  COUNTRY: 

worship.  But  the  throbbings  of  heart  among  the  in- 
telligent and  educated  classes  for  liberty  of  con- 
science, of  faith,  and  of  worship,  are  deep  and  earnest, 
and  the  object  of  their  yearnings  will  by  and  by  be 
realized. 

France  is  semi-infidel,' professedly  Catholic,  but  in 
her  there  is  a  living  Protestant  Church,  a  portion  of 
it  supported  by  the  state  and  a  part  by  the  voluntary 
contributions  of  the  people.  Since  the  expulsion  of 
the  Huguenots  by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  Protestants  have  been  tolerated  only  for  a 
portion  of  the  time.  "Within  the  past  century  it  has 
made  substantial  progress  under  great  difficulties, 
and  enjoys  a  vigorous  life.  "With  a  fair  chance, 
that  professedly  popish  but  really  skeptical  people 
would  become  thoroughly  Protestant,  if  not  Method- 
istic. 

Germany  is  experiencing  a  shower  of  salvation, 
mostly  the  fruit  of  American  missionary  labors.  The 
mother  of  the  Reformation,  after  a  long  course  of 
wandering  in  the  mazes  of  rationalism,  seems  bid- 
ding fair  to  repose  in  evangelical  Christianity. 
Spiritual  religion  is  now  being  extensively  propa- 
gated by  Germans  who  had  imbibed  its  spirit  in 
America,  and  returned  to  the  fatherland  to  spread  it 
abroad. 

Spain  and  Portugal  are  now  as  dark  as  in  the 
dark  ages.  Building  a  superstitious  worship  upon  a 
traditional  foundation,  the  Bible  almost  entirely  pro- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  51 

scribed,  the  masses  of  course  ignorant  of  divine  truth, 
these  are  semi-heathen  countries.  Some  mighty  up- 
heaving of  the  nations  by  and  by  will  break  the 
chains  of  civil  and  spiritual  despotism  and  let  light 
shine  upon  this  darkness. 

England,  Scotland,  and-  Ireland  enjoy  liberty  of 
conscience,  but  the  national  Churches  are  hampered 
by  their  connection  with  the  State.  The  English 
Church  has  an  orthodox  creed  and  an  evangelical 
liturgy,  but  no  power  of  discipline.  Although  the 
old  English  reformers  maintained  that  "a  godly 
discipline "  is  one  of  "  the  essential  notes  of  the 
Church,"  the  Church  of  England  has  lost  that  essen- 
tial attribute  of  a  true  Church  of  Christ  by  her  mar- 
riage with  the  State.  Iligh  Churchmen  have  main- 
tained that  the  Articles  and  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England  constitute  an  impassable  barrier  against  her- 
esies and  schisms.  The  time  is  now  within  the  rec- 
ollection of  many  when  Churchmen  boasted  that  they 
were  a  unity.  The  denominations  were  divided  into 
innumerable  small  bodies,  but  "  the  Church  "  is  one, 
built  upon  the  glorious  foundation  of  her  Articles, 
Liturgy,  and  Homilies ;  she  has  "  One  Lord,  one 
faith,  and  one  baptism."  In  this  she  enjoys  a  glori- 
ous eminence,  and  challenges  the  admiration  of  the 
world.  More  than  all  this,  she  has  the  "  apostolical 
succession,"  and  is  secured  from  the  danger  of  fatal 
heresies  by  the  special  promise  that  "  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  her." 


52  OUR  COUNTRY: 

This  is  a  beautiful  theory,  but  it  has  been  refuted  by 
two  facts  which  have  transpired  within  our  own  time. 

But  a  few  years  since  the  Oxford  divines  com- 
menced publishing  their  "  Tracts  for  the  I'imes,"  in 
which  there  was  exhibited  a  strong  leaning  toward 
Home.  The  Romish  dogmas  there  broached  were 
condemned  by  a  portion  of  the  clergy  and  laity,  but 
nothing  could  be  done  authoritatively  and  effectually 
to  correct  these  gentlemen  and  to  remove  the  scandal. 
The  majority  of  them  remained  in  the  Church  until 
they  became  tired,  and  then  went  over  to  Rome  at 
their  leisure ;  while  others,  with  Dr.  Pusey,  himself 
the  leader  in  the  movement,  remained  in  the  com- 
munion of  the  Church.  Here  sprang  up  a  mighty 
defection  despite  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  Litur- 
gy, the  Homilies,  and  the  apostolical  succession ! 

Later  still  a  number  of  Church-of-England  minis- 
ters commenced  publishing  "Essays  and  Reviews," 
which  were  not  merely  of  infidel  tendency,  but  con- 
tain the  most  barefaced  infidelity  itself.  And 
finally  one  English  bishop,  Colenso,  published  a  vol- 
ume setting  forth  and  vindicating  these  same  infidel 
heresies !  There  he  is ;  he  cannot  be  disposed  of. 
The  scandal  still  remains.  The  most  which  can  be 
done,  it  seems,  is  for  a  number  of  the  orthodox  bishops 
and  clergy  to  advise  the  Right  Rev.  Heretic  to  resign 
his  episcopal  office,  a  thing  which  he  stubbornly  re- 
iuses  to  do.  Bishop  Colenso  cannot  be  disturbed 
unless  by  a  decision  of  the  civil  courts. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  53 

Such  is  the  effect  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State. 
Discipline  is  lost,  and,  according  to  the  old  English 
fathers,  one  essential  characteristic  of  the  Church  is 
wholly  wanting  in  the  present  Church  of  England. 

In  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  there  are 
numerous  bodies  of  evangelical  Christians  which 
maintain  "a  godly  discipline,"  are  orthodox  in 
essentials,  and  recognize  each  other  as  a  part  of  the 
family  of  Christ.  So  also  in  the  national  establish- 
ment there  is  an  influential  though  not  a  numerous 
party  who  contend  for  vital  godliness,  and  eschew  the 
dogmas  of  both  the  High  Church  and  infidel  parties. 

These  various  bodies  are  increasing  in  influence  and 
strength,  and  there  arises  hope  for  the  rising  tide  of 
evangelical  religion  in  the  British  Isles,  and  that  the 
English  Church  proper  will  stand  in  her  lot  in  "  the 
day  of  decision,"  when  the  final  battle  shall  be  fought 
between  truth  and  error,  sin  and  holiness,  God  and 
"  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air." 

We  come  to  the  American  Church. 

In  America  we  have  the  true  theory  of  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  Church 
from  the  State.  Here  the  Church  has  an  open  field 
and  the  chance  of  a  fair  fight.  She  has  nothing  and 
wants  nothing  from  the  State  but  protection  from  vi- 
olence, and  the  right  of  faith,  of  worship,  and  of  pros- 
elytism.  With  this  liberty,  and  the  same  protection 
extended  to  citizens  generally,  the  Church  will  con- 
quer the  world. 


54  OUR  COUNTRY: 

Here  tlie  Church  is  many,  but  still  one.  The 
various  evangelical  denominations  agree  in  essen- 
tials. This  is  the  age  of  good  feeling  among  the  liv- 
ing Churches,  Since  the  meeting  of  the  great 
"Evangelical  Alliance  "  in  London,  in  1846,  the  ran- 
cor of  sectarian  feeling  has,  in  a  good  degree,  sub- 
sided, and  spiritually-minded  Christians  have  been 
constantly  approaching  each  other.  That  grand 
assemblage  of  living  Christians  in  Freemason's  Hall, 
in  London,  was  like  a  great  love-feast.  All  hearts 
were  melted  and  ran  together.  A  clearer  evidence 
could  not  be  afforded  that  religio'n  is  the  same  in  all 
nations  and  among  all  denominations  of  Christians. 
The  days  I  spent  in  this  great  Christian  conference 
were  among  the  happiest  of  my  life,  and  I  see  the 
fruit  of  this  grand  demonstration  of  the  essential 
unity  of  evangelical  Christians  to-day. 

The  evangelical  Churches  of  the  United  States  of 
America  are  living  Churches.  The  unmistakable 
signs  of  life  are  a  godly  discipline,  spiritual  worship, 
soundness  of  faith,  and  a  warm  support  of  the  cause 
of  missions.  They  are  growing,  and  growth  is  an  ev- 
idence of  life.  They  are  militant,  and  war,  or  fight- 
ing, is  a  sign,  of  life.  The  Churches  of  this  land  are 
encompassed  with  evil,  but  they  are  in  general  taking 
a  bold  stand  against  it.  A  great  fight  is  going  on  in 
which  all  true-hearted  Christians  of  every  name  are 
engaged.  The  battle  rages  fiercely,  but  the  victory 
is  sure,  Already  have  many  glorious  victories  been 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  55 

won  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  the  signs  of  final  and 
universal  triumph  are  numerous  and  .  significant. 
Glorious  revivals  at  home,  and  the  successes  of  our 
missions  abroad,  are  among  the  most  striking  signs  of 
the  times.  The  increased  light,  the  increased  activ- 
ity, and  the  increased  power  of  the  Church,  are  an 
evidence  that  she  is  hastening  on  to  the  completion  of 
the  objects  of  her  mission,  and  the  consummation 
of  her  hopes.  She  is  successfully  at  work  at  home, 
she  is  successfully  at  work  in  the  army.  Many  are 
the  evidences  of  her  successes  on  the  battle-field. 
The  poor  dying  soldier-boy  lisps  the  prayers  learned 
in  the  nursery  from  his  mother,  and  the  labors  of  the 
Christian  Commission  inspire  hope  in  the  bosom  of 
the  wounded  until  the  fields  of  conflict  and  slaughter 
are  made  vocal  with  prayer  and  praise. 

The  day  of  the  regeneration  is  dawning.  I  see  the 
genius  of  Christianity  making  the  circuit  of  the  world. 
She-  flies  from  mountain  top  to  mountain  top.  She 
overshadows  our  fertile  valleys  and  broad  plains  with 
her  balmy  wings.  She  crosses  oceans  and  islands  and 
continents,  proclaiming  with  her  clarion  voice  to  all 
nations  a  present,  a  free,  and  a  full  salvation.  A 
train  follows  her  of  peoples  and  nations  redeemed 
from  sin  and  death,  who  lift  up  their  voice  like  the 
sound  of  ten  thousand  thunders,  saying,  halleluiah, 
Amen.  This  is  the  universal  language  of  the  last 
triumph. 

It  is  said  that  two  men  met  on  the  banks  of  the 

• 


56  DUE  COUNTRY  : 

Nile.  Each  saw  sympathy  in  the  countenance  of  the 
other,  but  they  spoke  different  languages.  They 
gazed  at  each  other  with  intense  interest.  Finally 
one  exclaimed  "Halleluiah!"  Instantly  the  other 
responded  "  Amen !"  They  rushed  into  each  other's 
arms,  and  mingled  their  tears  together.  This  com- 
mon language  will  be  the  glorious  summing  up  of 
the  labors  and  the  conflicts  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 
We  begin  our  halleluiahs  here.  Halleluiah!  Let 
all  shout  halleluiah  !  halleluiah !  Amen  and  amen ! 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 


IT. 
STRENGTH  IN  THE  DAY  OF  ADVERSITY. 

IF  THOU  FAINT  IN  THE  DAY  OF  ADVERSITY,  THY  STRENGTH  IS  SMALL. — 

Prov.  xxiv,  10. 

DAYS  of  adversity  are  appointed  to  all.  The  most 
favored  meet  with  reverses.  "Wise  foresight  and 
wary  precaution  may  be  employed,  but  adversity 
comes  in  to  baffle  the  best  concerted  schemes,  and  to 
interrupt  the  current  of  general  prosperity.  As  it  is 
with  individuals,  so  it  is  with  communities.  Churches 
and  nations  have  their  flood  and  their  ebb  tides.  It 
is  a  point  of  great  practical  wisdom  to  know  how  to 
meet  adversity.  Prosperity  is  a  test  of  our  humility ; 
adversity  tests  our  faith  and  our  patience.  Many  fail 
under  each  of  these  trials.  The  one  who  preserves 
his  humility  under  a  tide  of  successes,  and  the  one 
who  bears  up  under  a  series  of  reverses  and  keeps  in 
heart,  are  moral  heroes.  Especially  he  who  under 
the  discipline  of  afflictions  keeps  his  faith  and  forti- 
tude unimpaired,  exhibits  true  elements  of  greatness. 
On  the  other  hand,  those  who  fail  under  adversity 
show  evident  signs  of  weakness.  That  we  may  be 
armed  against  either  failure  in  the  time  of  trial  let  us 
proceed  to  survey 


58  OUR  COUNTRY: 

The  classes  of  adversities  to  which  we  are  liable. 

One  class  of  adversities  is  made  up  of  those  which 
befall  individuals  and  families.  The  tide  of  prosperity 
is  at  any  time  liable  to  ebb  out.  "  Man  is  born  unto 
trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward."  It  is  a  part  of 
the  discipline  of  our  probationary  state.  Pecuniary 
resources  are  cut  off,  health  fails,  friends  sicken  and 
die,  sons,  brothers,  fathers,  and  husbands  fall  upon  the 
battle-field,  or  waste  away  in  hospitals.  Gloom  and 
despondency  brood  over  the  family  circle,  and  hearths 
are  made  desolate.  Opulence  is  succeeded  by  pov- 
erty and  want ;  the  full  board  is  swept  of  its  luxu- 
ries; plain  and  scanty  fare,  hunger  and  threatened 
starvation,  show  their  grim  visages  not  far  in  the  dis- 
tance. The  body  and  the  soul  are  subjected  to  the 
severest  tests,  and  happy  is  the  one  who  does  not 
utterly  fail  in  these  days  of  adversity. 

Another  class  of  adversities  is  composed  of  such 
as  befall  the  Church.  The  Church  is  in  a  militant 
state ;  she  has  her  foes  and  her  conflicts,  her  successes 
and  her  reverses.  The  Church  sometimes  declines  in 
her  strength,  sometimes  suffers  from  apostasies,  is 
sometimes  divided,  and  is  sometimes  persecuted. 
All  these  trials  afflict  and  harass  her  individual 
members,  and  severely  try  their  graces.  It  is  in  sea- 
sons of  declension  and  backsliding,  of  schisms  and 
persecution,  that  the  faith  of  the  living  members  of 
the  Church  in  the  promises  of  God  is  brought  to  the 
severest  test.  When  persecution  raged,  as  under 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  59 

the  Roman  emperors ;  when  heresies  were  rampant,  as 
in  the  days  of  the  Mcene  fathers ;  when  schism  ruled, 
as  in  the  Tridentine  age,  the  faith  of  God's  elect  was 
subjected  to  the  sorest  trial.  "When  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  was  condemned  by  councils,  and  scouted  by 
the  dignitaries  of  the  nominal  Church,  and  had  to 
conceal  itself  in  dorters  among  the  lower  orders  of 
the  clergy  and  in  the  cottages  of  the  poor,  "the 
word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in  those  days,"  and 
the  true  servants  of  God  rested  wholly  and  only  upon 
the  promise  that  "the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail" 
against  the  Church.  Martyrs  and  confessors  then 
bled  or  were  sent  to  the  stake,  and  none  stood  the 
test  but  the  brave  and  the  strong — but  those  who 
"  endured  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible." 

Still  another  class  of  adversities  is  made  up  of  those 
which  befall  the  country  which  we  call  our  own.  As 
a  nation  we  are  now  suffering  the  calamities  of  a 
dreadful  civil  war.  After  about  eighty  years  of  al- 
most uninterrupted  prosperity,  embattled  hosts  of  men 
of  the  same  nationality,  language,  political  creed,  and 
religious  faith,  are  arrayed  against  each  other  in 
deadly  conflict.  Civil  war  is  war  in  its  worst  form. 
A  war  of  brothers,  a  war  between  united  states,  a 
war  in  a  government  adopted  and  administered  by 
the  people  themselves,  is  an  anomaly,  a  scandal,  and 
a  judgment.  Can  a  greater  calamity  to  a  nation  be 
imagined,  aside  from  total  destruction  and  utter 
annihilation  ?  It  was  indeed  a  dark  day  when  the 


60  OUR  COUNTRY: 

slave  power  at  the  South  resolved  to  hazard  the 
experiment  of  a  war  of  rebellion — to  take  up  arms 
against  the  most  liberal  and  beneficent  government 
in  the  world.  This  was  an  event  to  try  men's  souls. 
This  government  had  passed  through  many  severe 
tests ;  it  had  been  established  after  the  terrible  revo- 
lutionary struggle — had  maintained  a  war  with  the 
most  powerful  nation  of  the  world,  and  bravely  con- 
tested her  claims  to  supremacy  upon  the  land  and 
the  sea,  but  it  had  never  before  been  called  to  march 
into  the  field  of  deadly  strife  against  its  own  sons. 
Nothing  could  so  severely  tax-the  national  patriotism 
and  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  popular  govern- 
ment, and  in  the  stability  of  free  institutions,  as  this 
war  of  the  rebellion.  The  bravest  heart  has  at  times 
been  almost  crushed,  and  the  best  soldier  has  been 
tempted  to  turn  coward.  The  slaughtered  thousands 
of  our  brave  men,  and  the  sighs  of  an  army  of  widows 
and  orphans,  wafted  upon  every  breeze,  are  sickening 
and  heartrending ;  they  are  national  adversities  which 
admit  of  no  parallel. 

An  aggravation  of  this  dreadful  war  just  now  is 
the  fact  that  it  is  traveling  north,  and  at  this  moment 
a  large  army,  under  the  command  of  a  great  general, 
is  in  Pennsylvania,  and  is  moving  upon  the  capital 
of  the  state.  Already  skirmishing  parties  have 
reached  the  Susquehanna,  and  are  threatening  Har- 
risburgh,  Philadelphia,  and  our  coal  valleys  at  the 
north.  The  horrors  of  war  are  brought  to  our  doors, 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  61 

and  men's  hearts  are  failing  them  for  fear.  Unless 
our  army  is  able  to  put  a  check  upon  the  invading 
force  it  is  impossible  to  tell  where  the  mischief  will 
end.* 

There  is  danger  of  fainting,  or  losing  heart  in  the 
day  of  adversity. 

It  is  adversity  that  tries  a  man's  mettle.  No  one 
can  tell  whether  he  has  endurance  or  not  until  he  is 
put  to  hard  service,  nor  can  one's  strength  of  heart 
be  accurately  judged  of  until  he  is  tried  by  adversity. 
"Whether  we  have  the  power  of  enduring  hardness  as 
good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ  will  appear  when  we 
come  into  the  fight.  Courage  is  tested  by  danger, 
patience  by  delays,  and  faith  by  dark  dispensations. 
Many  sustain  themselves  with  what  may  seem  like 
fortitude  when  no  danger  is  near,  but  when  the 
heavens  lower  they  tremble.  They  stand  up  strong 
in  prosperity,  but  in  adversity  they  faint  away. 
"When  they  meet  with  reverses  they  say,  as  did  the 
patriarch  Jacob  when  he  had  to  part  with  his  be- 
loved Benjamin,  "  all  these  things  are  against  me." 
"When  the  Church  is  in  trouble  they  seem  to  think 
God's  promise  about  to  fail.  And  when  the  ship  of 
state  is  assailed  by  storms  they  predict  her  utter 
wreck.  Some  minds  are  not  equal  to  the  slightest 

*This  discourse  was  delivered  at  Providence,  Pa.,  on  Sunday,  the  5th 
of  July,  1863,  before  the  news  of  the  victory  at  Gettysburg!!,  on  the 
3d,  had  arrived. 


62  oun  COUNTRY: 

pressure,  but  break  down  under  the  first  wave  of 
trouble,  and  give  up  all  for  lost.  They  "  faint  in  the 
day  of  adversity." 

The  cause  of  fainting  in  the  day  of  adversity  is 
want  of  strength.  "If  thou  faint  in  the  day  of 
adversity  thy  strength  is  small." 

Our  strength  is  measured  by  adversity. 

Our  strength  of  faith. 

I  use  the  term  faith  here  for  trust  or  confidence. 
It  implies  confidence  in  God,  confidence  in  truth, 
and  confidence  in  man.  No  one  can  really  have  a 
strong  soul  without  great  confidence  in  God.  There 
is  uncertainty  in  everything  else  but  "  the  everlasting 
arms."  Here  is  strength  for  all  emergencies.  The 
soul  that  reposes  on  God  is  firmly  fixed.  "  Here  is 
solid  rock  while  all  around  is  sea."  In  all  perils  the 
language  of  this  faith  is,  "  God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble.  Therefore 
will  not  we  fear,  though  the  earth  be  removed,  and 
though  the  mountains  be  carried  into  the  midst  of 
the  sea ;  though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  be 
troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake  with  the  swell- 
ing thereof."  Psa.  xlvi,  1-3. 

A  weak  faith  sees  no  God  in  the  storm,  almost 
fears  he  has  forsaken  his  throne  and  given  up  the 
aifairs  of  the  world  to  the  sport  of  chance.  Like 
Peter,  they  look  at  the  boisterous  waves  and  lose 
sight  of  Him  who  is  able  to  control  them,  and  they 


ITS  TRIAL  A1STD  ITS  TRIUMPH.  .          63 

then  begin  to  sink.  The  promises  of  God,  his  provi- 
dence, history,  past  experiences,  all  have  little  weight ; 
no  power  to  inspire  confidence.  To  those  in  a  sim- 
ilar condition  of  mind  the  Saviour  said,  "  Why  are  ye 
fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?"  He  reproves  weak  faith 
as  though  it  were  a  reasonable  expectation  that 
Christians  should  have  strong  faith.  It  is  so.  There 
are  reasons  enough  for  strong  faith,  and  the  want  of 
it  is  a  culpable  defect. 

Faith  in  the  principles  of  our  government  is  a  part 
of  our  support.  At  the  present  time  it  is  highly  im- 
portant that  we  should  see  something  indestructible 
in  our  institutions.  If  we  really  believe  in  republican 
institutions  as  best  suited  to  secure  the  ends  of  govern- 
ment, we  ought  not  to  give  them  up  in  despair  so 
long  as  a  ray  of  hope  is  left  for  them.  Who  can  be 
so  faithless  as  to  doubt  the  final  success  of  the  best 
form  of  government  the  world  ever  saw  ?  Strong 
faith  just  now  in  the  truth,  justice,  and  consequent 
permanency  of  our  government  is  most  important. 
A  true  Christian  and  patriot  will  never  give  up  the 
principles  upon  which  our  free  institutions  are  based 
while  he  believes  them  founded  in  truth  and  justice, 
and  he  will  never  despair  of  their  final  triumph, 
whatever  embarrassments  for  the  time  may  seem  to 
gather  around  them. 

Faith  in  man ;  faith  in  the  administration  of  the 
government ;  faith  in  the  army  and  navy,  should  come 
to  our  aid  just  now.  I  am  among  those  who  see  good 


64  OUR  COUNTRY: 

grounds  for  this  faith.  Political  prejudices,  the 
blindest  and  most  obstinate  of  all  prejudices,  will 
allow  of  no  good  thing  in  the  opposite  party,  and 
hence  may  see  no  grounds  for  confidence  in  the  gov- 
ernment. Everything  to  them  forbodes  mischief 
and  ruin.  It  seems  not  to  have  entered  their  minds 
that  Providence  often  delays  and  brings  about  its 
great  purposes  by  circuitous  routes.  Our  faith  and 
patriotism  may  have  to  be  tried  more  severely  than 
they  have  yet  been,  and  it  may  all  be  in  harmony 
with  the  design  in  due  time  to  bring  us  out  of  our 
present  national  troubles  "  into  a  large  and  wealthy 
place." 

Adversity  shows  our  strength  of  hope. 

The  want  of  strong  or  confident  hope  is  attended 
with  despondency,  and  the  utter  absence  of  it  is 
despair.  Hope  keeps  the  heart  from  breaking.  Any 
amount  of  present  suffering  of  which  humanity  is 
capable  can  be  endured  while  hope  promises  re- 
lief; but  when  that  promise  is  cut  off  the  heart 
sinks. 

O  what  were  life, 

Even  in  the  morn  and  summer  light  of  joy 
Without  those  hopes  that,  like  refreshing  gales, 
At  evening  from  the  sea  come  o'er  the  soul, 
Breathed  from  the  ocean  of  eternity ! 
And  O,  without  them  who  could  bear  the  storms 
That  fall  in  roaring  blackness  o'er  the  waters 
Of  agitated  life  ?— WILSON. 

I  hear  some  say  that  they  have  lost  all  hope  for  the 
country.  They  must  be  in  a  lamentable  condition  ; 


ITS  TRIAL   AXD   ITS  TKIUMPH.  65 

of  course  they  are  faint.  They  barely  have  life  and 
breath  enough  to  groan  and  complain.  All  their 
utterances  are  desponding;  their  very  look  is 
freezing. 

Adversity  tests  our  fortitude. 

Fortitude  is  that  quality  of  the  soul  by  which  we 
endure  with  firmness  and  patience  the  ills  of  life.  It 
is  a  manly  quality,  giving  dignity  to  the  character 
and  stability  to  the  position  and  movements  of  one 
who  is  assailed  by  opposition  or  in  peril  of  being  jos- 
tled by  adversity.  History  furnishes  no  more  illustri- 
ous examples  of  fortitude  than  the  heroes  and  hero- 
ines of  our  Revolutionary  struggle.  Our  half-fed 
and  nearly  naked  soldiers  bore  themselves  with 
dignity  and  patience  while  their  wives  and  daughters 
at  home  plied  the  wheel  and  the  shuttle  to  procure 
food  and  clothing  for  themselves,  and  often  chopped 
their  own  wood  and  carried  it  from  the  woods  to 
their  own  doors  in  the  winter  to  avoid  freezing. 
All  this  and  much  more  they  did  and  suffered  for 
liberty. 

The  brave  Marion  invited  a  British  officer  to  dine 
with  him.  His  dinner  consisted  of  sweet  potatoes 
roasted  in  the  embers,  and  his  table  was  the  trunk 
of  a  fallen  tree.  The  officer  was  greatly  astonished, 
and  from  that  time  resolved  to  leave  the  British  army, 
and  finally  resigned  his  commission,  alleging  as  the 
reason  that  upon  entering  the  lines  of  the  Revolution- 
ary army  he  found  one  of  its  most  distinguished  gen- 

5 


66  OUK  COUNTRY: 

erals  living  on  roots  and  in  the  utmost  contentment. 
From  what  he  there  saw  he  had  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  a  people  led  by  officers  sustained  by  such 
fortitude  and  self-denial  could  not  be  subdued.  Now 
let  us  say, 

Ay,  there  we  stand  with  planted  feet, 
Steadfast  where  those  old  worthies  stdod ; 

Upon  us  let  the  tempest  beat, 
Around  us  swell  and  surge  the  flood  ; 

We  fall  or  triumph  on  that  spot ; 

God  helping  us  we  falter  not. — WHITTIEB. 

Are  we  the  children  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  shall  we  "faint  in  the  day  of  adversity?" 
If  we  have  a  tithe  of  the  pluck  of  our  fathers  and 
mothers  we  are  not  now  about  to  whimper  and  whine 
out  "All  is  lost."  No,  no.  There  is  hope.  Be 
strong. 

The  star  of  the  unconquered  will, 

He  rises  in  my  breast, 
Serene  and  resolute  and  still, 

And  calm  and  self-possessed. 
O  fear  not  in  a  world  like  this, 

And  thou  shalt  know  ere  long ; 
Know  how  sublime  a  thing  it  ia 

To  suffer  and  be  strong. — LONGFELLOW. 

The  most  critical  period  of  the  Revolutionary 
struggle  was  the  winter  of  1777-8.  After  the 
bloody  battle  of  Brandy  wine  "Washington  went  with 
his  army  into  winter-quarters  at  Valley  Forge,  on  the 
Schuylkill.  The  winter  was  a  very  severe  one,  re- 
membered and  spoken  of  by  survivors  as  "  the  hard 
winter."  The  army  was  deficient  in  supplies  of  food 
and  clothing.  Under  these  terrible  circumstances  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TKIUMPH.  67 

soldiers  were  beard  to  utter  in  tones  of  sadness  if 
not  of  discontent,  "No  pay,  no  clothes,  no  provi- 
sions." The  great  soul  of  the  commander-in-chief 
was  well-nigh  overwhelmed  with  sorrow,  and  it  was 
under  these  circumstances  that  he  was  found  on  his 
knees  in  the  forest  earnestly  pouring  out  his  soul  in 
prayer  to  God  for  help.  Congress  was  tardy  in  its 
action,  and  aid  was  delayed  beyond  endurance.  On 
the  16th  of  February  Washington  wrote  to  Gov. 
Clinton,  "  For  some  days  past  there  has  been  little 
less  than  a  famine  in  the  camp.  A  part  of  the  army 
has  been  a  week  without  any  kind  of  flesh,  and  the 
rest  three  or  four  days.  Naked  and  starving  as  they 
are,  we  cannot  enough  admire  the  incomparable  pa- 
tience and  fidelity  of  the  soldiery,  that  they  have  not 
been,  ere  this,  excited  by  their  sufferings  to  a  general 
mutiny  and  desertion."  To  add  to  the  horrors  of  the 
scene,  the  small-pox  broke  out  in  the  camp  with  great 
virulence.  Many  died  of  this  dreadful  malady,  and 
many  more  suffered  untold  miseries  through  expo- 
sure and  want  of  nursing.  "Washington  deeply  sym- 
pathized with  his  men,  and  shared  with  them  in 
their  privations;  and  truly,  as  Dr.  Thatcher,  one  of 
the  historians  of  the  Revolution,  says,  "  He  rises  in 
the  midst  of  distress,  and  gains  strength  by  misfor- 
tunes." What  an  iron  will,  what  patience,  what 
strength  of  heart,  had  Washington.  Like  the  sturdy 
oak  beaten  by  the  tempest,  every  blast  adds  to  its 
strength,  and  sends  its  roots  deeper  into  the  ground. 


68  OUR  COUNTRY: 

What  examples  of  fortitude  and  endurance  were  the 
soldiers  of  the  Revolutionary  army  !  They  did  not 
"  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity."  They  were  men  of 
great  "  strength."  Let  these  glorious  heroes  be  our 
examples  in  these  times  of  trial. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  69 


Y. 
FIERY  TRIALS  OF  OUR  FREE  INSTITUTIONS.* 

THE  BUSH  BURNED  WITH  FIRE,   AND  THE  BUSH  WAS  NOT  CONSUMED. 
Exod.  iii,  2. 

THE  burning  bush  was  a  supernatural  appearance, 
and  was  symbolical  both  of  the  condition  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  in  Egypt  and  of  the  Church  of  God  in 
all  ages. 

The  doctrine  taught  in  "  this  great  sight  "  is, 

That  there  is  a  discipline  of  severe  trials  ap- 
pointed. 

That  these  trials  are  not  destructive,  for 

God  is  in  them. 

I  shall  apply  these  doctrines  to  the  history  and  the 
present  condition  of  our  country  as  furnishing  rea- 
sons for  thanksgiving  to-day. 

The  first  instance  of  severe  discipline  which  I 
shall  notice  is  the  policy  of  the  mother  country 
in  the  government  of  her  colonial  possessions  in 
America. 

That  policy  was  extremely  oppressive ;  better 
suited  to  the  condition  of  slaves  than  of  free  men. 
The  colonies  complained  chiefly  of  taxation  without 

*  Delivered  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scranton,  Penn., 
on  the  occasion  of  the  National  Thanksgiving,  Nov.  26,  1863. 


70  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

representation ;  but  they  had  many  other  serious 
grievances,  all  of  which  are  eloquently  set  forth  in 
the  immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  :  a  Bill  of 
Eights  unrivaled  in  the  lucid  and  compact  manner  in 
which  it  teaches  the  philosophy  of  government.  The 
rights  of  the  governed  are-  here  clearly  set  forth  and 
vindicated,  and  the  fact  that  governments  are  insti- 
tuted for  the  benefit  of  the  governed,  and  not  for  the 
sole  advantage  of  governors,  although  then  a  novel 
doctrine,  in  this  instrument  is  boldly  maintained. 
The  civil  and  ecclesiastical  oppressions  which  had 
driven  the  old  Puritans  away  to  the  wilds  of  Ameri- 
ca had  created  in  them  a  strong  sense  of  injustice 
and  oppression,  and  a  stern  resolve  to  vindicate  their 
rights.  The  fiery  ordeal  through  which  they  had 
passed  had  disciplined  them  for  the  stern  conflict 
which  followed.  England  thought  to  school  a  con- 
tinent of  colonies  in  the  principles  of  passive  submis- 
sion, that  they  might  be  held  in  vassalage  and  be 
made  tributary  to  her  wealth  and  overshadowing 
power ;  but,  under  the  hand  of  God,  she  was  really 
creating  a  nation.  The  cruel  oppressions  of  the 
mother  country  were  not  crushing,  for  God  was  in 
them. 

The  next  serious  trial  to  which  this  country  was 
subjected  was  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

The  colonies  were  forced  to  the  alternative  of  vas- 
salage or  a  war  of  resistance.  "War  with  the  parent 
government  was  dreadful,  but  slavery  was  still  more 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  71 

dreadful,  and  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  The  col- 
onies were  without  an  army,  without  munitions  of 
war,  without  a  navy,  without  money,  and  almost 
without  credit.  They  had  a  conviction  of  the  right, 
and  courage  to  defend  it ;  this  was  their  strength  and 
their  hope.  "  Thrice  armed  is  he  who  hath  his 
quarrel  just."  . 

The  fearful  struggle  commenced  with  the  bat- 
tles of  Lexington  and-  Bunker  Hill.  It  progressed 
with  the  usual  fortunes  of  war.  Successes  and  re- 
verses succeeded  each  other.  The  untrained  troops 
of  Washington,  but  half  clad  and  half  armed,  were 
often  brought  down  to  the  borders  of  despair.  When 
the  general  was  driven  across  New  Jersey,  and  it  was 
not  certain  but  he  would  be  obliged  to  flee  across  the 
Alleghanies,  it  was  a  dark  day ;  but  still  he  trusted  in 
God  and  watched  his  opportunity.  With  the  capture 
of  the  Hessians  at  Trenton  the  tide  turned,  and  after 
a  hard  struggle  of  six  years  the  surrender  of  the  two 
armies  of  Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis  opened  the  way 
for  peace,  based  upon  the  acknowledgment  of  Ameri- 
can independence.  The  arbitrament  of  war  is  at  all 
times  terrible,  but  in  some  instances  it  is  the  only 
alternative,  and  in  this  case  it  was  the  condition  of 
giving  birth  to  a  nation. 

The  formation  of  the  federal  Constitution  was 
the  occasion  of  another  severe  trial  of  the  patriotism 
and  virtue  of  the  people. 

The  Articles  of  Confederation,  by  which  the  states 


72  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

were  united  for  mutual  defense,  did  not  constitute  a 
national  government.  They  furnished  no  basis  of  na- 
tional credit,  nor  a  uniform  system  of  commerce.  After 
an  experiment  of  seven  years  of  peace,  from  1783  to 
1790,  under  the  old  order  of  things,  the  federal  Con- 
stitution was  adopted  by  a  popular  vote.  The  con- 
flicting interests  of  the  different  states,  as  to  trade  and 
commerce,  originated  parties  upon  the  question  of 
state  rights  and  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution. 
An  excise  law  was  passed  by  Congress  which  was 
opposed  in  "Western  Pennsylvania.  Seven  thousand 
armed  men  threatened  to  resist  the  power  of  the 
general  government,  and  actually  resisted  the  collec- 
tion of  the  tax.  President  "Washington  made  a 
requisition  on  New  Jersey,  Maryland,  and  Virginia 
for  fifteen  thousand  militia,  and  putting  them  under 
the  command  of  Governor  Lee  of  Virginia,  they  were 
marched  across  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  the 
insurgents  were  scattered  without  killing  a  man 
or  firing  a  gun.  Here  is  an  instructive  lesson. 
Promptness  on  the  part  of  the  chief  magistrate  easily 
quelled  a  rebellion.  The  cheapest  method  of  dealing 
with  rebellion  is  to  meet  it  early,  and  with  a  strong 
hand. 

President  "Washington  seemed  not  to  have  enter- 
tained certain  views  of  the  Constitution  which  have 
been  propagated  in  our  days — that  the  militia  of  the 
state  are  only  designed  for  the  service  of  the  state, 
and  that  the  President  lias  no  authority  under  the 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TEIUMPH.  73 

Constitution  to  require  them  to  cross  state  lines,  or  to 
call  them  out  for  the  defense  of  the  Union.  "Wash- 
ington knew  that  section  2,  paragraph  1,  of  the  Con- 
stitution declares  that  "  the  President  shall  be  corn- 
man  der-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  states  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States," 
and  every  school-boy  ought  to  know  as  much.  It  is, 
indeed,  humiliating  to  know  that  three  out  of  five 
judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania seem  not  to  be  aware  of  any  such  provision  in 
the  Constitution.  Yerily  this  is  a  progressive  age. 

The  Constitution  underwent  severe  scrutiny.  The 
interests  of  different  classes  of  citizens  naturally  led 
them  to  different  views  of  the  provisions  of  this  great 
instrument.  Two  great  political  parties  grew  up  in 
the  country,  which  contended  fiercely  for  the  ascend- 
ency, and  their  contests  were  sometimes  more  deeply 
characterized  by  the  spirit  of  faction  than  of  patriot- 
ism. Washington  clearly  saw  the  tendency  of  the 
local  feelings  and  political  strifes  to  the  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  and  the  destruction  of  the  hopes  of  the 
country,  and  in  his  farewell  address  left  us  an  earnest 
warning  against  those  fearful  evils.  Well  had  it 
been  if  the  warning  had  been  duly  heeded  by  the 
present  generation. 

The  doctrine  that  each  separate  state  is  a  sover- 
eignty in  itself,  was  maintained  by  the  anti federal 
politicians  of  the  southern  states,  such  as  Jefferson, 


74  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

Randolph,  and  Calhoun.  The  South  is  an  agricul- 
tural country,  and  was  more  naturally  led  to  adopt  the 
doctrine  of  free  trade  versus  a  tariff  for  the  support 
of  the  federal  government,  and  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  home  manufactures.  They  wished  to  sell 
their  cotton,  tobacco,  and  rice  to  European  traders, 
and  to  receive  their  fabrics  in  return  without  the  inter- 
ference of  the  federal  authority.  They  maintained 
that  it  was  their  right  to  do  so,  and  any  interference 
with  this  right  on  the  part  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment was  a  usurpation,  and  an  attempt  to  reduce  the 
separate  states  to  slavery.  The  antifederal  party 
called  themselves  Republicans,  while  the  federal 
party  were  called  Federalists. 

The  conflicts  between  the  two  parties  upon  the 
above  and  other  subjects  imposed  a  severe  test  upon 
the  federal  Constitution  and  the  union  of  the  states 
under  it.  Under  the  ordering  of  divine  Providence, 
however,  a  regard-  for  the  Constitution,  and  a  love  of 
the  Union,  became  deeply  fixed  in  the  public  mind, 
and  local  interests  were  yielding  to  the  demands  of 
the  national  welfare,  until  another  severe  trial  came 
upon  the  Republic. 

The  war  of  1812  with  the  mother  country. 

The  great  war  between  France  and  England,  which 
desolated  Europe,  seriously  interfered  with  the  com- 
merce of  neutral  powers.  The  United  States  govern- 
ment made  earnest  complaints  through  her  represent- 
atives to  both  courts  without  receiving  any  satisfactory 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  75 

redress.  At  length  the  question  of  retaliatory  meas- 
ures was  seriously  entertained  by  the  United  States 
government.  On  the  recommendation  of  President 
Jefferson,  Congress  laid  a  general  embargo,  pro- 
hibiting the  exportation  of  all  commodities  from 
the  United  States.  The  commerce  of  the  country 
was  at  once  reduced  to  a  coasting  trade.  A  stagna- 
tion of  business  followed  which  spread  ruin  among 
our  merchants  on  the  seaboard,  raised  the  price  of 
foreign  goods,  and  caused  extensive  dissatisfaction 
among  the  people.  The  self-denying  spirit  of  '76  had 
died  out,  and  instead  of  considering  the  embargo  a 
necessary  measure  of  national  defense  and  security, 
it  was  regarded  as  a  party  measure,  and  judged  of  by 
its  local  bearings  on  trade  and  commerce.  A  great 
cry  was  raised  against  the  national  administration, 
particularly  in  the  New  England  States,  and  a  sep- 
aration from  the  Union  was  sometimes  spoken  of  as 
a  remedy  for  the  existing  evils. 

The  difficulties  between  the  United  States  aud 
Great  Britain  seemed  to  mock  all  diplomatic  efforts, 
until  they  culminated  in  a  war  between  the  two  na- 
tions. On  the  1st  of  June,  1812,  President  Madison 
sent  a  message  to  Congress  in  which  the  causes  of 
complaint  against  the  government  of  Great  Britain, 
from  1803  down  to  that  date,  were  ably  stated,  and  in 
the  conclusion  of  which  a  declaration  of  war  was  rec- 
ommended as  the  only  resort  left  for  the  vindication 
of  the  national  honor. 


76  DUE  COUNTRY: 

The  message  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations.  After  due  deliberation  upon  the 
whole  subject  the  committee  reported  a  bill  declaring 
war  between  Great  Britain  and  her  dependencies 
and  the  United  States  of  America.  Six  reasons  were 
given  in  support  of  the  measure : 

1.  The  impressment  of  American  citizens  while 
sailing  upon  the  high  seas  and  forcing  them  to  fight 
against  nations  in  amity  with  the  United  States. 

2.  Violating  the  rights  and  peace  of  our  coasts  and 
harbors,  and  wantonly  spilling  American  blood  with- 
in our  territorial  jurisdiction. 

3.  Plundering  our  commerce  on  every  sea,  under 
pretended  blockades,  without  the  application  of  fleets 
to  render  them  legal. 

4.  Committing  numberless  spoliations  on  our  ships 
and  commerce,  under  her  Orders  in  Council  of  various 
dates. 

5.  Employing    secret    agents  within  the  United 
States,  with  a  view  to  subvert  our  government  and 
dismember  our  Union. 

6.  Encouraging  the  Indian  tribes  to  make  war  on 
the  people  of  the  United  States. 

The  bill  passed  both  houses,  and  on  the  18th  of 
June  was  signed  by  the  President. 

The  war  was  opposed  by  the  federal  party  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  stimulated  by  sympathy  with 
Bonaparte,  was  wholly  unconstitutional,  was  more  in 
hostility  against  the  states  on  the  seaboard  than 


ITS  TKIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  77 

against  the  government  of  Great  Britain,  and  would 
result  in  the  utter  ruin  of  the  country.  Politicians 
and  newspaper  editors  denounced  the  President  as  a 
traitor  to  the  country,  and  members  of  Congress  did 
not  hesitate  to  assert  the  right  of  the  separate  states 
to  secede  from  the  Union  and  to  make  open  resistance 
to  the  federal  government. 

A  convention  of  delegates  from  the  states  of 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  the 
counties  of  Cheshire  and  Grafton  in  New  Hampshire, 
and  the  county  of  Windham,  in  Yermont,  convened  in 
Hartford,  Conn.,  Dec.  15,  1814.  This  celebrated 
convention  sent  out  a  report  in  which  the  wrongs  of 
the  government  were  enumerated,  and  remedies  pro- 
posed. In  this  report,  though  guarded  in  its  lan- 
guage, the  spirit  of  faction  is  dominant.  Bitter  hos- 
tility to  the  government  and  strong  sympathy  with 
Great  Britain  were  apparent,  although  not  so  clearly 
developed  as  in  some  of  the  opposition  newspapers 
and  by  political  orators.  Patriotism  ran  low,  and 
faction  ran  high. 

The  doctrine  of  state  rights  was  now  the  doctrine 
of  federal  New  England,  as  it  had  previously  been  the 
doctrine  of  the  southern  states.  This  may  seem  to  be 
a  strange  fact,  but  is  accounted  for  upon  the  princi- 
ple of  human  selfishness,  the  same  principle  which 
first  gave  it  birth  in  the  South.  Southern  politi- 
cians opposed  the  administration  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment under  Washington  and  John  Adams  from 


78  OUR  COUNTRY: 

this  stand-point,  and  New  England  opposed  that  of 
Jefferson  and  Madison  from  the  same.  Tariff  laws, 
though  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment, were  a  tax  upon  the  South;  hence  the 
South  opposed  them,  and  claimed  the  right  to  resist 
them.  The  war  ruined  the  commerce  of  New  En- 
gland; hence  she  opposed  the  general  government, 
which  declared  and  sustained  the  war,  and  contended 
that  it  was  her  right  to  secede  and  rebel.  How  much 
party  politics  are  governed  by  interest  is  apparent  in 
more  instances  than  one.  How  few  are  influenced  by 
a  regard  for  the  whole  country,  and  are  willing  to  sac- 
rifice local  interest  to  the  general  good.  A  narrow 
local  policy  has  ever  been  the  bane  of  the  country, 
and  the  greatest  obstacle  to  its  unity  and  permanent 
prosperity. 

The  fears  and  predictions  of  party  politicians  are 
usually  proved  groundless  by  the  logic  of  events. 
The  South  grew  and  prospered  under  what  they  de- 
nounced as  a  ruinous  system,  and  the  most  flagrant 
outrage  upon  their  rights  upon  the  part  of  the  federal 
government ;  and  the  commerce  and  resources  of  New 
England  outlived  a  war  which,  according  to  the 
Hartford  Convention,  ought  to  have  buried  them 
in  eternal  oblivion. 

The  party  feuds  and  sectionalism  growing  out  of 
the  war  were  in  themselves  great  evils,  and  a  severe 
test  of  the  strength  of  the  Union ;  but  God  presided 
over  the  great  interests  of  the  nation,  and  she  came 


ITS  TRIAL   AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  79 

out  of  the  fiery  ordeal  purified  and  strengthened. 
The  history  of  the  -last  war  with  Great  Britain  fur- 
nishes the  most  ample  and  satisfactory  proof  of  the 
power  of  the  government  to  resist  a  foreign  enemy, 
to  struggle  with  domestic  factions,  and  to  prove 
itself  indestructible.  "The  bush  burned  with  fire, 
but  the  bush  was  not  consumed,"  because  God  was 
in  it. 

The  Nullification  movement  in  the  state  of  South 
Carolina,  in  1832,  is  another  instance  of  a  severe  trial 
of  the  strength  of  the  federal  government. 

John  C.  Calhoun  was  the  southern  leader  of  the 
ultra  states  rights  party,  and  headed  a  movement  to 
nullify  the  tariff  established  by  act  of  Congress,  and 
to  carry  South  Carolina  out  of  the  Union.  A  con- 
vention of  delegates,  chosen  by  the  people  of  that 
state,  passed  an  ordinance  of  nullification  and  seces- 
sion, Nov.  24,  1832,  and  the  state  legislature  sanc- 
tioned the  act.  Gen.  Jackson,  then  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  proceeded  in  the  most  prompt  and 
energetic  manner  to  head  off  what  assumed  every  ap- 
pearance of  a  rebellion  against  the  general  govern- 
ment. He  sent  Gen.  Scott  to  Charleston,  giving  him 
and  the  collector  of  the  port  the  necessary  instruc- 
tions to  provide  for  the  defense  of  the  harbor  and  of 
the  government  property  and  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws.  The  nullifiers  found  themselves  completely 
forestalled,  and  with  as  good  a  grace  as  possible 
finally  receded,  for  the  reason  that  they  could  not 


80  OUR  COUNTRY: 

proceed.  The  proclamation  of  the  President  is  as 
logical  and  eloquent  as  it  is  patriotic,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  great  enthusiasm  everywhere,  excepting 
in  South  Carolina  and  some  of  the  other  southern 
states. 

Jackson  had  been  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  doc- 
trine of  state  sovereignty,  and  had  followed  Jefferson 
in  his  notions  of  a  strict  construction  of  the  language 
of  the  Constitution ;  yet  as  Jefferson  had  to  give  up 
his  theory  in  the  purchase  of  Louisiana,  so  Jackson 
was  obliged  to  give  up  the  same  theory  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  Union.  He  did  more  than  to  give  up  the 
Jeffersonian  theory  of  state  rights;  he  proceeded  to 
refute  it,  and  actually  took  up  the  last  plank  of  the 
old  platform.  After  completing  his  argument,  the 
sturdy  old  patriot  proceeded  to  pour  out  a  torrent  of 
warnings'  and  expostulations  to  the  people  of  South 
Carolina,  which  are  now  refreshing  to  every  patriot 
heart.  This  proclamation  is  a  document  of  rare 
merit  and  of  great  power.  If  James  Buchanan  had 
adopted  it,  just  as  it  is,  in  1860,  when  South  Caro- 
lina tried  her  hand  at  secession  again,  and  had 
followed  it  up  with  the  same  energetic  measures 
with  which  it  was  followed  up  by  Andrew  Jackson, 
secession  would  have  again  been  stifled  in  its 
birth. 

American  Slavery. 

The  enslavement  of  the  African  race  was  entailed 
upon  us  by  the  mother  country,  and  has  been  one  of 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  81 

the  greatest  evils  with  which  we  have  had  to  con- 
tend. While  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  eastern 
and  northern  states,  in  the  South,  by  reason  of  the 
climate,  the  character  and  social  habits,  and  the 
business  interests  of  the  southern  people,  it  became 
established  there  as  a  permanent  institution.  Becom- 
ing local  in  its  character,  it  finally  became  a  subject 
of  controversy  and  a  source  of  dissension  between 
the  North  and  the  South.  As  the  cotton  interest 
advanced,  the  value  of  slave  labor  was  enhanced,  and 
slavery  was  considered  a  source  of  wealth.  At  first 
the  southern  people  endeavored  to  excuse  slavery  as 
a  thing  of  necessity,  but  finally  they  came  to  justify 
it  as  a  right.  The  two  systems  of  free  and  slave 
labor  are  antagonistic.  As  free  labor  is  most  pro- 
ductive, the  free  states  gradually  gained  upon  the 
slave  states  in  resources.  The  more  rapid  advance 
of  the  free  states  in  wealth  and  numbers  excited  the 
envy  of  the  South,  and  brought  on  angry  collisions 
between  the  two  parties  in  Congress  and  in  the  news-  • 
papers,  which  resulted  in  mutual  dislike.  The  south- 
ern people  were  educated  to  despise  labor,  and  north- 
ern congressmen  and  senators  were  often  treated  with 
the  bitterest  scorn,  and  occasionally  with  personal 
violence. 

Though  in  the  minority,  southern  politicians  man- 
aged to  hold  the  balance  of  power.  Their  hatred 
of  the  free  North  and  their  insolence  finally  became 
intolerable.  Thcv  demanded  and  obtained  a  fugitive  • 


82  OUR  COUNTRY: 

slave  law,  which  was  offensive  to  the  North.  They 
procured  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
They  tried  by  mob  violence  and  brute  force  to  fasten 
slavery  upon  Kansas.  Frequent  raids  of  slave  catch- 
ers into  the  northern  and  eastern  states,  and  their 
dragging  away  into  slavery  respectable  and  well-to-do 
colored  people,  who  had  enjoyed  the  blessings  of 
liberty  for  ten  and  even  twenty  years,  increased  the 
hatred  of  the  North  for  the  institution  of  slavery,  and 
continued  to  widen  the  chasm  which  yawned  between 
the  two  great  antagonistic  systems  of  northern  free- 
dom and  southern  bondage.  To  increase  the  moral 
sentiment  of  abhorrence  of  "  the  peculiar  institution" 
at  the  north,  scores  and  it  may  be  hundreds  of  north- 
ern men  were  tarred  and  feathered,  whipped  and 
hung  at  the  South  under  the  pretext  of  their  being 
Abolitionists,  without  the  slightest  evidence  of  any 
overt  act  of  contempt  for  the  laws  of  the  slave 
states,  or  of  offense  against  the  peace  of  southern 
society. 

The  question  of  slavery  in  the  territories  became  a 
source  of  great  discontent  at  the  South.  Although 
Congress  pretended  to  no  right  to  interfere  with  the 
question  in  the  states,  yet  it  had  the  undoubted  right 
to  legislate  upon  it  within  the  territories;  and  the 
northern  policy  was  to  prevent  the  extension  of 
slavery.,  neither  allowing  it  in  the  domain  of  the 
United  States,  nor  admitting  new  slave  states.  This 
the  South  pretended  to  consider  -an  infringement 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS   TRIUMPH.  83 

upon  their  rights,  and  a  violation  of  the  compromises 
of  the  Constitution ;  and  they  for  a  long  time  found 
sympathizers  enough  among  northern  members  to 
enable  them  to  maintain  their  position.  Southern 
insolence  had  finally  reached  bounds  beyond  which 
northern  forbearance  could  by  no  means  be  com- 
pelled to  go.  The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
and  the  Kansas  outrages  had  fully  aroused  the  North ; 
then  came  on  a  reaction  against  the  aggressive  spirit 
of  slavery  which  threatened  an  end  of  its  further 
progress. 

The  dissensions  which  arose  upon  these  great 
issues  were  .a  severe  trial  to  the  Union  under  the 
federal  Constitution ;  and  it  was  but  too  evident  that 
the  southern  politicians  were  contemplating  a  plan 
for  a  final  separation,  and  the  organization  of  an 
independent  government.  In  the  midst  of  these 
fearful  storms  the  ship  of  state  bore  itself  nobly,  and 
promised  to  outlive  the  peril. 

Then  came  the  slaveholders'  rebellion. 

In  the  presidential  canvass  of  1860,  the  republican 
party  succeeded  in  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
This  was  made  the  occasion  of  an  outbreak  of  the 
rebellious  spirit  of  the  southern  slaveholders.  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  votes  under  the 
Constitution ;  but  the  southern  chivalry  said  an 
abolitionist  should  never  be  President  of  the  United 
States.  South  Carolina,  always  the  first  to  engage 
in  factious  proceedings,  inaugurated  the  rebellion ; 


84  OUR  COUNTRY: 

and  all  the  other  slaveholding  states  followed,  except 
Maryland  and  Delaware. 

The  North  were  not  prepared  for  the  movement — 
few  indeed  believed  the  thing  possible.  President 
Buchanan  allowed  the  time  from  the  election  in 
November  to  the  4th  of  March,  the  day  of  the  inau- 
guration of  the  new  president,  to  pass  without  the 
slightest  preparations  for  the  emergency,  affording 
the  rebels  every  opportunity  to  mature  their  plans 
and  prepare  for  the  conflict.  Several  of  jMr.  Buchan- 
an's cabinet  were  in  the  conspiracy,  and  used  their 
position  to  weaken  the  North  and  to  strengthen  the 
South.  The  Secretary  of  War,  John  B.  Floyd,  of 
Virginia,  robbed  the  treasury,  and  sent  from  the 
depots  of  arms  and  ammunition  at  the  North,  large 
stores  to  the  South.  The  rebels  seized  our  forts, 
navy-yards,  ships  of  war,  revenue  cutters,  and  mints, 
and  indeed  everything  which  they  could  make  avail- 
able in  the  struggle.  Many  officers,  who  had  been 
educated  in  our  military  schools,  joined  the  rebels, 
and  turned  over  to  them  their  commands.  The  first 
overt  act  of  hostilities  was  committed  at  Charleston, 
by  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  on  the  16th  of 
March,  1861.  This  act  was  followed  by  a  call  from 
the  President  for  75,000  volunteers  for  the  recovery 
of  the  property  of  the  United  States  and  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  rebellion. 

The  government  was  totally  unprepared  for  war 
upon  a  gigantic  scale.  It  was  almost  without  an 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  85 

army,  without  arms,  and  without  money.  The  reb- 
els had  been  long  in  their  preparations  and  were 
fierce  for  the  combat.  "Washington  was  threatened, 
and  Baltimore  gave  unmistakable  signs  of  disloyalty, 
and  the  whole  country  was  thrown  into  the  most  terri- 
ble state  of  excitement.  The  patriotic  feeling  of  the 
North  was  strong,  and  all  seemed  to  anticipate  uni- 
versal success  and  an  easy  conquest  over  the  rebels. 
The  cry  of  "  On  to  Richmond  "  was  raised  by  news- 
paper editors,  and  echoed  by  the  people.  The  disas- 
ters of  Bull  Run,  Ball's  Bluff,  Fredericksburg,  and 
Chancellorsville  superinduced  a  considerate  state  of 
mind,  and  had  the  effect  to  awaken  the  nation  to  a 
sense  of  the  real  magnitude  of  the  struggle  in  which 
we  are  engaged.  These  lessons  were  severe,  but  they 
were  necessary,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  salu- 
tary. 

Since  last  July  the  federal  arms  have  been  crowned 
with  a  series  of  successes,  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  has 
inflicted  upon  the  rebellion  a  deadly  wound.  The 
monster  dies  hard,  but  evidently  is  consuming  away. 
May  he  soon  expire  without  benefit  of  clergy,  receive 
the  burial  of  a  dog,  and  never  know  a  resurrection ! 

The  problems  of  this  terrible  civil  war  are  being 
solved  by  the  logic  of  events.  The  question  of 
finance,  the  disposition  of  the  freedmen,  confisca- 
tion of  the  property  of  rebels,  all  have  had  their 
difiiculties ;  but  the  light  has  gradually  been  dawning, 
and  difiiculties  melting  away,  until  the  ground  for 


86  OUR   COUNTRY  : 

confidence  seems  strong,  and  hope  of  the  final  result 
bright. 

The  spirit  of  lawless  violence  which  broke  out  in 
the  city  of  New  York  was  a  severe  test  of  the  strength 
of  the  government. 

The  great  riot  in  ]STew  York,  but  a  few  months 
since,  had  many  sympathizers  scattered  through  the 
free  states.  Threats  of  terminating  the  present  ad- 
ministration by  violence  had  been  uttered  through 
some  of  the  opposition  newspapers,  about  the  time 
our  armies  were  achieving  their  glorious  victories  at 
Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg ;  and  if  instead  of  these 
victories  our  arms  had  met  defeat,  it  is  impossible  to 
tell  what  the  consequences  of  the  lawless  spirit,  which 
had  become  so  rife  in  the  country,  might  have  been. 
That  I  am  not  mistaken  in  the  indications  of  a  pur- 
pose forcibly  to  resist  the  government  will  appear 
from  the  following,  taken  from  a  series  of  resolutions 
passed  at  a  celebration  in  our  own  county  July  4, 
1863,  and  published  in  a  newspaper  thoroughly  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  proceedings  of  that  factious  meeting  : 

"  Abraham  Lincoln  has  nearly  brought  the  free  citi- 
zens of  the  ISTorth  to  a  line  of  universal  resistance  to 
his  mandates,  which  the  signs  all  over  the  North 
plainly  indicate.  Multiplied  wrongs,  sufferings,  and 
insults,  if  further  attempted  by  the  President,  may 
bring  forth  their  bitter  fruits  before  the  fourth  day  of 
March,  1865 ;  and  we  say  to  the  President  and  his 
cabinet,  '  beware  of  the  Ides  of  November ;'  remem- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  87 

her  the  history  of  other  usurpers  and  tyrants  who 
have  gone  before  yon,  or  you  may  have  use  for  the 
army  of  the  Potomac  besides  that  duty  they  are  now 
engaged  in,  in  order  to  secure  you  a  safe  conduct 
from  the  White  House  to  Springfield,  111.  Self- 
preservation  is  nature's  first  law.  Imbecility  and 
rottenness  are  but  poor  safeguards  for  any  tyrant 
and  usurper  when  the  people  become  aroused.  You 
have  sown  the  wind,  and  ominous  clouds  are  gather- 
ing in  the  north,  east,  and  west  portending  a  coming 
storm." 

This  and  much  more  to  the  same  purpose  in  a 
wordy,  windy  report  of  that  veritable  celebration 
clearly  indicates  the  spirit  of  the  New  York  mob, 
and  the  anticipation  of  a  general  outbreak  against 
the  administration.  Such  was  the  condition  of  things 
when  the  victories  of  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg 
gave  new  strength  to  the  administration  and  relief  to 
the  country. 

Through  all  these  trials  and  perils  our  country  has 
passed  without  being  wrecked.  She  has  passed 
through  many  a  fiery  ordeal,  and  as  yet  "  the  smell 
of  fire  "  is  scarcely  upon  her.  It  is  to  God's  super- 
intending providence  that  we  owe  our  continued 
existence  and  our  present  prosperity.  To  him  be  the 
praise ! 

Fellow-citizens  !  we  have  assembled  to-day,  in  obe- 
dience to  the  call  of  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation, 
to  give  thanks  to  God  for  OUT  recent  victories  in  the 


88  OUR  COUNTRY: 

field.  It  is  assumed  that  these  triumphs  are  a  bless- 
ing, and  that  we  owe  them  to  the  God  of  battles. 
Let  us  glance  over  the  operations  of  our  armies  for- 
the  last  few  months.  The  rebel  generals  Lee  and 
Jackson  invaded  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  with 
an  army  of  seventy  thousand  men  the  latter  part  of 
June,  and  were  severely  defeated  by  Gen.  Meade  at 
Gettysburg  on  the  third  of  July,  and  on  the  fourth 
were  in  full  retreat.  After  the  loss  of  at  least  twenty 
thousand  of  his  men  Lee  fell  back  toward  Richmond 
to  recuperate.  On  the  same  fourth  of  July  the  rebel 
Gen.  Pemberton  surrendered  Yicksburg,  the  key  of 
the  Mississippi,  to  Gen.  Grant.  On  the  eighth  of 
July  Port  Hudson  was  surrendered  to  Gen.  Banks. 
The  Mississippi  was  now  opened  to  ISTew  Orleans, 
and  the  rebel  states  severed  in  twain.  Important 
victories  in  Arkansas  and  Tennessee,  and  the  advance 
of  Gen.  Rosecranz  to  the  borders  of  Georgia,  are  also 
to  be  taken  into  this  account,  and  for  the  whole  do 
we  to-day,  as  a  nation,  offer  devout  thanksgivings  to 
God. 

There  is  a  religious  spirit  in  the  army.  Many 
prayers  are  there  offered  up.  Multitudes  of  the 
brave  men  who  have  fallen  upon  the  battle-field  have 
pillowed  their  heads  upon  the  bosom  of  Jesus  as 
they  bid  adieu  to  earth. 

Still  the  nation  is  in  the  fire,  but  is  not  likely  to 
be  consumed,  for  God  is  in  the  fire.  Under  his 
supervision  the  fire  is  melting  away  the  chains  of 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  89 

slavery,  humbling  and  purifying  the  nation,  and 
preparing  her  for  a  glorious  future.  The  work  is 
not  yet  fully  accomplished.  God  grant  that  it  may 
be  "  cut  short  in  righteousness."  May  the  American 
eagle,  carrying  the  national  motto,  "  E  PLURIBUS 
UNUM,"  soar  unimpeded  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  and  from  the  Canadas  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  in  answer  to  the  shrill  cry  of  the  mystic  bird 
may  the  whole  people  respond,  in  the  noble  language 
of  Webster,  "  Union  and  liberty,  now  and  forever, 
one  and  inseparable."  The  shout  of  GOD  AND  LIB- 
ERTY, sent  up  from  our  high  mountains  and  broad 
plains,  shall  be  echoed  back  by  the  peoples  and  na- 
tionalities of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  universal 
man  shall  be  one  great  brotherhood. 


90  OUR  COUNTRY: 

VI. 
RADICALISM. 

HR  THAT  DASHETH  IN  PIECES  IS  COME  UP  BEFORE  THY  FACE:  KEEP 
THE  MUNITION,  WATCH  THE  "WAY,  MAKE  THY  LOINS  STRONG,  FORTIFY 
THY  POWEE  MIGHTILY. — NahuiU  ii,  1. 

THE  work  of  building  up,  and  the  work  of  breaking 
down,  each  has  its  agency  and  its  period.  If  it  were 
not  for  incendiaries  much  of  this  world's  labor  would 
be  saved.  Some  periods  seem  to  be  specially  charac- 
terized by  systematic  eiforts  to  break  up  old  founda- 
tions, long-established  systems  and  usages.  Revolu- 
tions which  improve  the  condition  of  things  are  real 
reforms,  but  many  changes  are  retrogressive,  pushing 
society  back  toward  barbarism,  or  tending  to  anar- 
chy. The  active  working  of  destructive  elements  in 
the  social  system  at  the  present  time  is  apparent. 
Radical  reformers  are  now  the  most  dangerous  ene- 
mies to  real  progress.  Some  real  or  supposed  evil  in 
the  social  system  is  made  a  reason  for  a  wholesale 
destruction  of  its  very  framework.  A  destructive 
and  a  constructive  genius  are  seldom  found  in  the 
same  mind ;  and  hence  an  old  fabric  is  often  pulled 
down  without  the  erection  of  a  better  one  in  its 
stead. 

In  this  discourse  I  shall  mark  the  tendency  to  in- 
jurious changes,  and  then  proceed  to  find  the  remedy. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  91 

Observe  the  tendency  to  break  down  and  destroy. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  break  down  parental  au- 
thority. 

"  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things ;  for  this 
is  well-pleasing  to  the  Lord."  Col.  iii,  20.  This  is  a 
revealed  truth,  which  former  generations  of  parents 
enforced  and  children  respected.  In  the  good  old 
times  the  father  was  the  head  of  his  family,  and  the 
children  revered  his  authority.  Now,  in  too  many 
instances,  the  strict  old  Puritan  rule  is  denounced  as 
arbitrary  and  cruel,  and  what  is  considered  the  more 
philosophical  plan  is  that  of  giving  children  some 
good  lessons  occasionally,  and  then  leaving  them  to 
follow  their  own  promptings  until  reason  corrects 
their  childish  passions  and  habits.  The  modern 
theory  is,  that  children  should  never  receive  physical 
punishment :  that  would  do  for  the  barbarous  ages, 
but  is  inconsistent  with  the  refinement  of  the  present 
improved  condition  of  society.  Solomon  said,  "  He 
that  spareth  his  rod  hateth  his  son ;"  and  St.  Paul 
said,  "  We  have  had  fathers  of  our  flesh,  which  cor- 
rected us,  and  we  gave  them  reverence."  Those  are 
teachers  of  the  ancient  schools,  and  will  hardly  bear 
criticism  in  these  days.  Now  it  seems  to  be  seriously 
believed  that  if  you  punish  a  disobedient  child  it 
makes  him  worse,  but  leave  him  to  his  own  wont  and 
he  will  correct  himself. 

I  would  only  favor  punishment,  in  parental  disci- 
pline, as  a  means  of  maintaining  authority,  and  of 


92   '  OUR  COUNTRY: 

course  it  must  always  be  in  reason.  Excessive  pun- 
ishment provokes  resentment  and  generates  hatred, 
and  consequently  counteracts  its  own  ends.  On  the 
other  hand,  to  allow  downright  impudence  and  will- 
ful disobedience  to  pass  with  impunity  destroys  all  pa- 
rental discipline.  The  absence  of  early  restraint  and 
suitable  punishments  is  likely  to  result  in  a  harvest  of 
infamy.  The  little  urchin  who  breaks  crockery  and 
pounds  his  head  on  the  floor,  and  is  pacified  with 
sugar,  will  be  likely  at  length  to  curse  his  father  and 
his  mother,  and  to  trample  them  under  foot.  Many 
sad  specimens  are  seen  in  these  days  of  filial  ingrati- 
tude, which  can  only  be  accounted  for  upon  the  ground 
of  the  inefficiency  of  family  discipline.  Young  people 
are  too  often  brought  up  in  idleness,  and  indulged 
until  their  habits  of  extravagance  become  unendura- 
ble, and  they  are  utterly  spoiled  for  any  useful  or 
honorable  position  in  society.  Labor  is  becoming 
disreputable.  Our  fathers  were  apprenticed  to  trades, 
but  our  children  must  be  taught  to  dance  and  read 
novels,  have  plenty  of  money,  and  time  to  seek 
their  pleasure. 

The  same  tendency  to  the  breaking  down  of  au- 
thority in  the  family  is  discovered  in  the  schools  of 
our  times. 

It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  parents  to  interfere  with 
the  discipline  of  the  school.  Their  children,  who 
have  been  pampered  and  spoiled  at  home,  can 
scarcely  brook  restraint  abroad.  One  of  the  greatest 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  93 

burdens  of  a  teacher  now  arises  from  the  irregular 
habits  of  the  pupils — their  aversion  to  order  and 
method,  and  their  impatience  of  restraint.  Our 
schools  and  colleges  in  too  many  instances  are  used 
as  places  of  recreation  for  idle  young  people — merely 
necessary  as  a  gangway  between  childhood  and  man- 
hood, or  womanhood.  Who  takes  lessons  in  subor- 
dination and  respect  for  authority  in  the  schools  of 
our  time  ?  The  teacher  who  is  excessively  indulgent 
is  well  spoken  of,  but  the  strict  disciplinarian  will  be 
dubbed  with  some  outlandish  nickname,  which  is  sure 
to  have  the  prefix  old  connected  with  it.  Then  they 
will  be  talked  of  as  cross,  and  the  parents  at  home 
very  soon  get  a  horrible  idea  of  the  temper  of  the 
teacher,  and  come  to  regard  their  sons  and  daughters 
as  veritable  martyrs,  whom,  out  of  sheer  humanity, 
they  call  home.  Poor  creatures ! 

Church  discipline,  it  is  to  be  feared,  is  going  into 
neglect,  if  not  into  contempt. 

Legitimate  ecclesiastical  authority  is  often  branded 
as  popish,  and  a  godly  discipline  is  resisted  as  an  in- 
tolerable burden.  The  old  strictness  of  living  is  now 
scarcely  attempted  to  be  enforced.  A  breach  of 
Church  rule  is  regarded  as  a  venial  offense,  while  the 
pastor  who  watches  over  his  flock  as  he  who  must 
give  an  account — reproving  the  unruly,  and  lop- 
ping off  dead  branches — soon  becomes  unpopular. 
Turbulence  and  open  resistance  of  authority  in  the 
Churches  are  by  no  means  unknown ;  but  an  exceed- 


94:  OUR  COUNTRY: 

ingly  weak  administration,  through,  the  fear  of 
downright  rebellion,  is  too  common.  Outward  and 
inward  pressure  have  borne  upon  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority until  it  is  fast  becoming  nerveless ;  and  its 
restoration  to  its  original  vigor  and  efficiency  is  all 
but  hopeless. 

Old  formulas  of  faith  are  dashed  to  pieces. 

The  present  age  is  famous  for  a  love  of  novel- 
ties. Who  reveres  the  old  platforms?  Who  reads 
old  authors?  How  many  are  prepared  to  reject  a 
formulary  or  a  dogma  merely  because  it  smacks  of 
age,  or  has  been  handed  down  from  the  fathers? 
How  common  is  it  to  hear  unfledged  pulpit  ora- 
tors expatiate  upon  independence  of  thought  and 
the  fruit  of  original  investigation  ?  All  this  is 
well  enough  in  its  place,  and  when  properly  qual- 
ified; but  not  so  well  when  it  means  the  rejection 
of  the  wisdom  of  past  ages  and  the  reckless  swallow- 
ing down  of  every  novelty  which  appears  in  these 
stirring  times.  A  descendant  of  the  Puritans  will 
occasionally  swell  to  a  vast  bulk  of  personal  import- 
ance, and  tell  you  that  he  does  not  ask  what  says 
Calvin  or  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Westminster 
divines,  but  what  is  truth?  In  like  manner  you 
sometimes  hear  a  disciple  of  Wesley  vaunt  his  supe- 
riority to  human  authority  by  saying,  I  ask  not  what 
Wesley  has  said,  but  I  go  to  St.  Paul.  Very  well ; 
let  him,  if  our  stripling  has  studied  St.  Paul  so  much 
more  thoroughly  than  Wesley  did,  that  the  father  of 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  95 

Methodism  can  give  him  no  light  upon  the  original 
text  of  the  apostle.  I  am  not  against  original  inves- 
tigation, but  I  oppose  the  rejection  of  systems  of  doc- 
trine and  forms  of  faith  without  investigation  mere- 
ly because  they  are  old. 

Old  Constitutions  have  been  broken  to  pieces  or 
changed  until  they  have  lost  much  of  their  original 
excellence. 

Perhaps  every  state  constitution  has  been  revised, 
and  some  of  them  several  times.  The  changes  in 
them  generally  consist  in  abstracting  the  conserva- 
tive element  and  replacing  it  with  the  democratic  or 
popular  principle.  To  instance  in  one  thing:  Our 
judiciary  has  almost  universally  became  elective. 
Our  judges  and  magistrates  are  now  elected  by  the 
people,  which  none  will  be  so  bold  as  to  deny  has 
opened  a  wide  door  to  corruption.  Appeals  are 
made  to  the  populace  for  votes,  and  the  votes  are 
given  with  the  expectation  that  such  judgments  will 
be  rendered  as  will  be  palatable  to  the  voters;  and  in 
this  expectation  the  voters  are  not  often  disappointed. 
The  stern  old-fashioned  justice  of  our  courts  would  be 
an  improvement  upon  the  present  order  of  things. 
Political  judges  and  political  magistrates  are  often, 
I  will  not  say  how  often,  weak  in  the  knees,  and, 
through  fear  of  giving  offense  to  political  partisans, 
fail  to  render  impartial  justice.  All  feel  that  the  old 
securities  are  gone,  but  many  are  not  aware  of  the 
cause. 


96  OUE  COUNTRY  : 

A  conscientious  regard  for  law  and  order  has 
diminished. 

In  proof  of  the  fact  here  assumed  may  be  noticed 
the  numerous  instances  of  personal  violence  and 
breaches  of  the  public  peace.  Unbridled  passion 
often  rules,  while  the  demands  of  law  and  justice  are 
either  ignored  or  utterly  despised.  The  principle  of 
brute  force  and  mob  violence  rules  a  numerous  class, 
and  the  majesty  of  the  laws  is  often  utterly  despised. 
I  shall  not  enlarge  upon,  this  feature  of  the  times, 
but  will  next  proceed  to  notice  the  culmination  of 
this  lawless  tendency. 

The  great  southern  rebellion,  against  which  the 
government  is  now  struggling,  is  the  ripe  fruit  of  all 
the  corrupt  principles  and  bad  passions  which  have 
for  years  been  taking  root  in  American  soil. 

This  grand  incendiary  experiment  began  in  break- 
ing down  the  barriers  of  the  southern  conscience. 
The  moral  obligations  resting  upon  every  citizen,  as 
well  as  upon  every  state  of  the  Republic,  to  bear  true 
allegiance  to  the  general  government,  was  first  repu- 
diated by  the  leaders  of  the  movement,  and  then  the 
people  were  instructed  and  tempted  to  follow  their 
example.  Having  made  out  a  case  which  seemed  to 
satisfy  their  minds,  although  it  was  wholly  founded  in 
falsehood,  the  southern  politicians  proceeded  to  the 
overt  act  of  treason.  The  act  of  secession  in  every 
instance  was  in  violation  of  public  law,  and  a  breach 
of  the  most  sacred  obligations.  Its  natural  conse- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  97 

quences,  unrestrained,  would  be  to  dash  to  pieces  a 
great  and  prosperous  nation.  The  right  of  secession 
once  admitted,  the  federal  Constitution  and  the 
Union  are  broken  up,  and  our  nationality  is  gone 
forever.  When  the  federal  Constitution  was  adopted 
by  a  popular  vote,  an  obligation  was  entered  into, 
by  the  whole  people,  to  bear  their  part  in  sustaining 
the  credit  of  the  government,  and  providing  for  its 
defense.  The  compact  entered  into  is  not  only  be- 
tween the  individuals  of  each  state  and  the  general 
government,  but  between  the  individuals  of  each 
state  and  those  of  all  the  other  states,  and  also  be- 
tween each  state  and  all  the  other  states ;  and  this 
compact  is  necessarily  made  for  all  time.  If  a  nation 
at  any  time  can  dissolve  itself,  what  basis  is  there  for 
national  credit  ?  The  very  idea  of  a  nation  supposes 
adhesiveness  and  permanence.  Thence  as  the  sepa- 
ration of  one  state  may  be  injustice  to  the  others,  no 
one  state  can  have  a  right  to  secede  without  the  unan- 
imous consent  of  the  rest. 

These  plain  principles  of  law  and  justice  were 
stricken  down  by  the  southern  secessionists  with  as 
little  compunction  as  they  would  crack  their  .whip 
around  the  ears  of  a  tardy  slave.  Having  dashed  to 
pieces  the  Constitution  and  the  obligations  of  public 
justice,  they  next  proceeded  to  take  possession  of  all 
the  property,  and  to  destroy  the  power  of  the  federal 
government  within  the  bounds  of  the  seceding  states. 
A  bloody  war  has  been  the  result,  which  has  cost  the 


98  OUR  COUNTRY: 

country  a  million  of  precious  lives,  and  many  mill- 
ions of  treasure.  What  an  immense  dashing  to  pieces 
of  towns,  railways,  forts,  munitions  of  war,  ships  of 
commerce  and  ships  of  war,  armies,  and  human  hopes 
has  followed  the  march  of  this  dire  rebellion.  The 
work  of  the  rebels  is  the  work  of  incendiaries ;  de- 
struction follows  in  their  train.  The  laws  of  civilized 
warfare  are  mocked,  especially  by  their  pirates  on  the 
high  seas  and  their  guerrilla  bands,  whose  peculiar 
mission  seems  to  be  that  of  plunder  and  murder. 
Capturing  and  murdering  unarmed  citizens  and  burn- 
ing unprotected  towns  it  seems  ought  to  be  reserved 
for  savages  and  barbarians ;  but  to  this  species  of  sav- 
age warfare  the  chivalry  descend. 

Having  given  warning  that  a  destructive  enemy 
was  at  hand,  the  prophet  next  proceeds  to  advise 
measures  of  defense.  Let  it  be  observed  here  that  no 
terms  of  peace  are  proposed ;  nothing  is  said  about  a 
parley  or  an  amnesty,  but  only  measures  of  defense. 
A  war  wisely  planned  and  bravely  prosecuted  is  coun- 
seled by  the  prophet. 

What  is  the  duty  of  the  government  under  the  cir- 
cumstances ? 

"  Keep  the  munition." 

The  fortification  is  to  be  kept.  This  is  just  what 
President  Buchanan  did  not  do.  He  left  all  the 
southern  forts,  with  the  exception  of  Fortress  Monroe 
and  Fort  Pickens,  unprotected,  and  one  of  them  after 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  99 

another  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  rebels.  The  south- 
ern members  of  Congress,  and  of  the  President's  cab- 
inet, warned  the  President  that  any  force  sent  to  the 
South  would  create  an  excitement,  and  bring  on  a 
collision  between  the  United  States  forces  and  the 
state  authorities ;  and  either  through  fear  of  this,  or 
some  more  unworthy  motive,  he  left  the  rebels  in 
possession  of  nearly  all  the  defensive  works  at  the 
South,  which,  if  he  had  taken  timely  measures  to  se- 
cure, would  have  saved  rivers  of  blood. 

Thanks  to  the  present  administration,  and  to  our 
able  commanders  of  the  land  and  naval  forces,  these 
fortifications  have  nearly  all  been  recaptured,  and  are 
now  being  kept  for  the  defense  of  the  government 
and  the  country.  To  keep  these  forts  vast  forces  and 
immense  supplies  of  munitions  of  war  are  necessary. 
Heavy  batteries,  immense  siege  guns  and  men  to 
use  them,  with  powerful  gunboats  and  ships  of  war 
ably  manned,  are  also  indispensable.  These  prepara- 
tions all  contemplate  opposing  force  by  force,  and 
shedding  human  blood  if  necessary.  Our  war  depart- 
ment are  resolved  upon  keeping  "  the  munition  "  at 
all  hazards,  and  for  this  the  country  holds  them  re- 
sponsible. 

"  Watch  the  way." 

All  the  avenues  through  which  an  insidious  foe  may 
approach  are  to  be  guarded.  The  railroads,  the  high- 
ways, the  rivers,  the  harbors,  the  ocean — the  highway 
of  nations — are  all  to  be  guarded  with  sleepless  vig- 


100  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

ilance.  The  mode  -of  approach  through  spies  and 
traitors  at  home  will  require  special  attention.  The 
government  must  be  broad  awake  to  every  vulnerable 
point,  and  never  be  caught  napping. 

"  Make  thy  loins  strong." 

The  resolution  or  purpose  of  the  government  must 
be  made  strong.  A  government  wants  "  loins,"  or 
what  in  modern  phrase  is  called  back  ~bone.  This 
is  especially  necessary  in  the  present  administration. 
Amid  the  conflict  of  opinions  and  theories,  and  the 
vast  pressures  which  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  President  and  his  cabinet,  it  has  required  no 
ordinary  strength  of  will  to  pursue  a  consistent 
course  of  administration  and  to  carry  out  measures 
of  reform.  To  displace  inefficient  and  unreliable 
officers  in  the  army  and  the  navy  has  been  a  fearful 
tax  upon  the  nerve  of  the  President.  That  he  has 
nobly  and  promptly  met  every  emergency  is  not  too 
much  to  say.  I  may  also  say  that  as  a  nation  we 
have  great  reason  for  devout  gratitude  that  God  has 
given  us  a  chief  magistrate  and  a  commander  of  the 
army  so  well  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  these  trying 
times.  The  opposition  have  by  turns  called  him 
weak  and  strong,  as  the  fit  has  taken  them.  On  one 
occasion  his  back  is  weak,  his  knees  are  feeble ;  and 
on  another  he  is  a  headstrong,  relentless  tyrant,  just 
as  the  caprice  of  political  partisanship  may  suggest, 
or  the  exigencies  of  party  politics  may  demand. 
Consistency  is  a  jewel. 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  101 

"  Fortify  thy  power  mightily." 

Here  is  authority  for  a  sufficient  force  in  men  and 
a  sufficient  amount  of  arms  for  every  occasion.  A 
weak  resistance  to  a  strong  foe  is  a  foolish  piece  of 
policy.  The  case  is  aptly  stated  by  Christ :  "  Or 
what  king,  going  to  make  war  against  another  king, 
sitteth  not  down  first,  and  consulteth  whether  he  be 
able  with  ten  thousand  to  meet  him  that  cometh 
against  him  with  twenty  thousand  ?  Or  else,  while 
the  other  is  yet  a  great  way  off,  he  sendeth  an  em- 
bassage,  and  desireth  conditions  of  peace."  The 
national  cause  has  suffered  more  in  this  war  for  the 
want  of  an  adequate  force  than  can  well  be  estimated. 
The  government,  fully  awake  to  the  greatness  of  the 
struggle,  is  now  pursuing  the  wise  policy  of  strength- 
ening the  army  by  a  large  number  of  recruits.  The 
true  economy  is  to  have  a  large  army.  A  sufficient 
force  will  save  life  and  sooner  end  the  war.  "  Fortify 
thy  power  mightily." 

Here  is  also  clearly  a  divine  warrant  for  extraor- 
dinary powers  to  meet  extraordinary  emergencies. 
A  louder  outcry  has  been  raised  against  the  Presi- 
dent for  using  the  war  power  than  for  anything  else. 
Suspending  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  authorizing 
what  is  called  "  arbitrary  arrests,"  and  denounced 
as. despotic  and  without  authority  of  law.  The 
measures  complained  of  are  to  be  justified  upon  the 
ground  of  necessity,  and,  under  the  circumstances, 
they  are  clearly  covered  by  the  Constitution.  The 


102  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

Constitution  admits  of  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  "  when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion, 
the  public  safety  may  require  it."  (See  art.  i,  sec.  9, 
par.  2.)  Now  when  it  is  considered  that  there  are 
partisan  judges  enough  who  would  grant  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  in  favor  of  traitors,  and  taking  them 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  military  authorities,  set  them 
at  large,  and  thereby  endanger  "  the  public  safety," 
what  common  sense  is  there  in  this  croaking  about 
depriving  citizens  of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus. 

As  to  "  arbitrary  arrests,"  there  may  have  been 
some  arrests  made  which  were  not  expedient,  al- 
though I  am  not  now  prepared  to  name  them.  Cer- 
tain I  am  that  more  cases  of  this  kind  might  have 
occurred  to  advantage.  If  all  the  rank  traitors  at 
the  North  could  have  been  taken  up  and  caged  long 
ago  we  might  have  had  peace.  The  sympathies  which 
have  been  wasted  upon  that  arch  traitor  Yallandig- 
ham  would  have  been  equally  appropriate  if  they  had 
been  lavished  upon  Jefferson  Davis  or  Sterling  Price. 
Let  those  who  have  so  much  sympathy  for  the  miser- 
able traitors  whom  the  government  has  had  the  wis- 
dom to  put  where,  for  the  time,  they  can  do  no 
harm,  transfer  a  little  of  their  sympathy  from  these 
vagabonds  to  our  suffering,  bleeding  country,  .and 
thereby  honor  their  own  good  sense  and  give  proof 
of  their  patriotism. 

Lastly,  "fortify  thy  power  mightily  "  with  the  divine 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  103 

help  and  protection.  No  government  was  ever 
really  strong  without  God.  Our  government  has 
not  been  slow  to  acknowledge  that  our  successes  are 
all  instances  of  the  divine  interference,  and  call  for 
special  thanksgiving  to  the  Author  of  all  good. 
Equally  careful  has  the  President  been  to  admonish 
us  that  our  sins  have  deserved  all  our  reverses,  and 
to  call  the  whole  people  to  fasting,  humiliation,  and 
prayer.  Thus  has  our  worthy  chief  magistrate  been 
fortifying  his  power  by  laboring  to  secure  the  favor 
of  the  God  of  armies.  "  By  my  God,"  says  David, 
"  I  can  run  through  a  troop  or  leap  over  a  wall." 
The  almighty  power  of  God  will  be  enlisted  for 
the  government  in  answer  to  prayer.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  prayers  of  the  Churches  are  invoked. 
They  have  influence  with  God,  and  the  President, 
sensible  of  this,  says,  "  Blessed  be  God  who  giveth 
us  the  Churches."  By  God's  special  help  may  he 
continue  to  "  fortify  his  power  mightily." 


lOi  OUR  COUNTRY: 


TIL 

THE  LORD'S  CONTROVERSY. 

THE  LORD  HATH  A  CONTROVERSY  WITH  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE 
LAND,  BECAUSE  THERE  IS  NO  TRUTH,  NOR  MERCY,  NOR  KNOWLEDGE 
OP  GOD  IN  THE  LAND.  BY  SWEARING,  AND  LYING,  AND  KILLING, 
AND  STEALING,  AND  COMMITTING  ADULTERY,  THEY  BREAK  OUT,  AND 

BLOOD  TOUCHETH  BLOOD.  —  Hosea  iv,  1,  2. 


action  is  here  brought  against  a  guilty  people. 
The  charge  is  formally  made  and  the  facts  produced 
in  evidence.  It  is  terrible  that  God  should  cause  an 
indictment  to  be  filed  against  us,  and  that  allegations 
should  be  sustained  by  the  most  indubitable  facts  ; 
but  after  all,  an  indictment  and  a  trial  are  not  the 
worst  things  which  might  occur.  The  cause  is  not 
decided,  sentence  is  not  yet  pronounced,  and  the 
guilty  party  handed  over  to  justice.  There  is  a  small 
space  allotted  for  the  defendant  to  make  a  plea,  or  to 
throw  himself  on  the  mercy  of  the  court.  This  is 
the  only  hopeful  view  of  the  case.  If  the  arraigned 
sinner  were  put  upon  the  expedient  of  self-justifica- 
tion he  would  fail  of  course.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
the  charge  is  fully  sustained,  and  it  is  not  of  a  nature 
to  admit  of  either  justification  or  palliation.  "With- 
out humiliation,  confession,  and  forgiveness,  convic- 
tion and  condign  punishment  are  absolutely  certain. 


ITS   TRJAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  105 

We  are  called  upon  by  the  government  to  fast  and 
pray,  to  humble  ourselves  before  God  for  our  sins, 
national  and  personal.  Several  such  appointments 
have  been  made  since  the  breaking  out  of  the  present 
civil  war,  the  last  one  being  attended  by  the  extra- 
ordinary circumstance  of  an  authorization  by  act  of 
Congress.  Such  days  should  be  solemnized  by  a 
devout,  humble,  and  earnest  spirit.  Our  prominent 
and  aggravated  offenses  should  be  brought  into  re- 
membrance and  heartily  bewailed. 

This  discourse  has  the  advantage  of  having  been 
prepared  and  delivered  subsequent  to  the  late  national 
fast,  (August  26,  1864,)  and  is  retrospective.  It  not 
only  contemplates  the  particular  occasions  we  have 
as  a  nation  for  fasting,  humiliation,  and  prayer,  but 
also  the  manner  in  which  special  days  of  fasting  have 
been  improved,  and  the  condition  of  the  national 
heart  under  all  the  evidences  of  divine  displeasure, 
and  after  all  the  efforts-  made  to  bring  about  the 
nation's  repentance. 

"With  these  preliminaries  I  shall  proceed  to  con- 
sider, 

The  grounds  of  the  Lord's  controversy. 

"  There  is  no  truth,  nor  mercy,  nor  knowledge  of 
God  in  the  land." 

The  first  count  in  the  indictment  is  that  there  is 
no  truth  in  the  land. 

Let  it  be  first  premised  that  although  the  charges 


106  OUR  COUNTRY-: 

presented  are  in  general  terms  they  do  not  exclude 
exceptions.  So  that  which  is  charged  is  not  the  abso- 
lute absence  of  "  truth,  mercy,  and  the  knowledge  of 
God,"  but  a  fearful  deficiency  of  these  virtues,  and 
the  general  prevalence  of  their  opposites. 

Is  there,  then,  a  sad  want  of  truth  in  the  land  ? 
Truth  is  a  principle  which  has  its  seat  in  the  soul.  It 
is  simple  honesty ;  a  desire  and  purpose  to  represent 
everything  in  accordance  with  fact;  a  horror  of 
all  deception  or  falsehood.  This  virtue  is  to  be  ac- 
quired by  the  diligent  study  of  facts,  and  a  t  constant 
effort  to  conform  to  them  in  thought  and  word.  A 
love  of  truth  is  essential  to  its  proper  development, 
and  especially  to  its  ripening  into  habits.  The  pur- 
suit of  truth  is  the  most  ennobling  of  all  pursuits ;  a 
disregard  of  it  is  the  most  degrading  of  all  mental 
conditions. 

The  want  of  truth  in  a  community,  as  in  an  indi- 
vidual, is  an  evidence  of  deep-seated  depravity.  It 
is  a  branch  of  a  deadly  tree.  The  soil  not  friendly 
to  truth  is  productive  of  all  the  corruptions  and  vices 
of  the  depraved  human  heart.  The -want  of  true  sin- 
cerity advertises  the  want  of  all  the  virtues. 

There  is  a  want  of  mercy  in  the  land. 

Mercy  is  goodness  exercised  toward  the  suffering. 
The  want  of  sympathy  for  the  unhappy  is  one  evi- 
dence of  the  want  of  all  goodness ;  for  wherever  an 
object  is  presented  mercy  is  the  first  impulse  of  good- 
ness. What  claim  has  he  to  goodness  who  can  look 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  107 

upon  suffering  humanity  without  any  bowels  of  com- 
passion ?  ~No  sect,  no  nationality  is  excluded  from 
the  sympathies  of  the  really  good.  Not  because  a 
man  was  born  in  a  certain  country,  or  because  his 
skin  is  of  a  particular  hue,  is  he  to  be  excluded  from 
the  consideration  due  to  the  common  brotherhood  of 
man.  Mercy  is  disinterested.  It  is  not  that  charity 
which  gives  "  hoping  to  receive  again,"  but  love  for 
the  helpless  and  the  undeserving.  Purely  selfish  men 
may  be  bound  together  by  common  interests;  but 
good  men.  will  feel  that  those  unfortunate  ones,  who 
have  nothing  with  which  to  repay  acts  of  kindness, 
are  their  brothers,  and  have  claims  on  them  for  their 
kind  consideration. 

The  want  of  mercy  is  developed  in  the  form  of 
cold  selfishness,  unconcern  for  the  woes  of  others, 
want  of  feeling,  hard  heartedness,  a  cold  disregard  of 
human  misery. 

No  knowledge  of  God  in  the  land. 

Ignorance  of  God  in  this  country  is  not  a  mere 
misfortune,  but  a  crime.  God  has  manifested  him- 
self in  his  works  and  in  his  word,  and  ignorance  of 
him  is  wholly  voluntary  and  consequently  criminal. 
The  knowledge  of  God  referred  to  in  the  text  is  more 
an  experimental  than  a  theoretical  knowledge.  It 
is  an  understanding  of  the  character  of  God  which 
impresses  itself  upon  the  heart  and  the  life;  such  a 
knowledge  of  his  holiness  as  begets  deep  repentance ; 
such  knowledge  of  his  truth  as  inspires  faith;  such 


108  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

knowledge  of  his  goodness  as  calls  fortli  love  and 
obedience.  The  want  of  this  knowledge  of  God  is 
the  absence  of  all  piety ;  and  the  want  of  piety  neces- 
sarily implies  the  presence  of  every  attribute  of  de- 
pravity. ' 

In  this  fearful  indictment,  then,  we  have  added  to 
a  false  heart  and  malice  prepense  the  awful  sin  of  im- 
piety. These  are  kindred  sins  but  of  different  bear- 
ings. A  false-hearted  man  sins  against  himself,  a 
malicious  man  sins  against  his  fellow-men,  and  an 
impious  man  sins  against  God.  The  whole  together 
makes  up  at  once  a  rebel  against  God  and  nature. 

Tour  attention  is  next  invited  to  the  facts  by  which 
the  charges  presented  are  sustained.  The  charges 
refer  to  the  moral  condition  of  the  soul ;  the  facts  or 
testimony  is  derived  from  the  life.  The  conduct  of 
the  life  is  the  evidence  of  moral  character.  Malice  is 
the  indictable  offense,  but  we  cannot  see  malice  or 
know  it  to  exist  except  through  the  infallible  signs 
which  exhibit  themselves  in  words  and  deeds.  This 
is  the  ground  upon  which  the  prophet  rests  the 
cause.  The  charges  are  "no  truth,"  "no  mercy," 
"no  knowledge  of  God."  The  proofs  are  "swear- 
ing," "lying,"  "  killing,"  " stealing,"  "  and  commit- 
ting adultery."  Let  us  now  see  whether  the  facts 
contained  in  the  specifications  sustain  the  charges. 

"  Swearing."  Two  descriptions  of  the  crime  here 
alleged  may  be  noticed,  profane  swearing  and  false 
swearing.  Profane  swearing  is  unnecessarily  calling 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  109 

God  to  witness,  or  using  the  name  of  God  on 
trifling  or  common  occasions.  Profane  swearing  is  so 
common  that  it,  in  a  measure,  has  ceased  to  be  wit- 
nessed with  horror.  The  old  and  the  young,  even 
little  children,  the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  the  vul- 
gar and  the  polite,  males  and  females,  swear  pro- 
fanely. 

Swearing  when  indulged  in  always  becomes  a 
habit.  The  common  swearer  says  he  means  no  harm ; 
he  swears  without  thinking  of  it.  That  he  should 
have  formed  the  habit  so  perfectly  as  to  commit  the 
Bin  without  thought  is  one  of  the  most  terrible  aggra- 
vations of  the  offense,  albeit  it  is  often  employed  as  a 
ground  of  apology  for  the  crime.  Sir  Robert  Boyle 
says :  "  I  doubt  not  but  that  it  is  much  easier  to 
make  most  swearers  proselytes  than  to  make  them 
converts,  and  a  task  of  less  difficulty  to  convince  their 
judgments  than  to  reform  their  practice.  Customary 
and  unnecessary  swearing  is  so  confessedly  unlawful 
that  they  are  ashamed  to  defend  it  that  blush  not  to 
practice  it ;  and  even  they  renounce  it  in  their  opin- 
ions that  most  cherish  it  in  their  discourse."  Another 
author  truly  says :  "  The  swearer  continues  to  swear. 
Tell  him  of  his  wickedness,  he  allows  it  is  great,  but 
he  continues  to  swear  on." 

We  need  scarcely  quote  the  divine  precepts: 
"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God 
in  vain,"  "  Swear  not  at  all,"  and  the  like,  to  con- 
vict the  swearer.  He  confesses  it  to  be  both  sinful 


110  OUR  COUNTRY: 

and  foolish,  and  yet  he  swears.  There  is  really  less 
excuse  for  it  than  for  almost  any  other  species  of 
oifending.  It  is  demanded  by  no  appetite,  it  satisfies 
no  fleshly  desire,  yet  the  profane  indulge  in  it  with  an 
apparent  relish  that  seems  to  evince  a  strong  tendency 
to  the  very  wickedness  of  the  thing.  It  is  an  instance 
of  malice  against  God  that  might  be  expected  in  a 
devil,  but  might  well  be  astonishing  to  angels  and 
men  when  witnessed  in  a  human  being. 

The  other  instance,  that  of  perjury,  is  perhaps  not 
so  common  as  profane  swearing,  and  yet  is  fearfully 
prevalent.  Persons  are  often  convicted  of  perjury ; 
others  are  known  to  have  committed  the  crime ; 
still  others  are  suspected  of  the  guilt  of  false  swear- 
ing. It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  legal  men  gen- 
erally, in  a  multitude  of  cases,  regard  the  testimony 
offered  in  court  with  evident  suspicion.  This  fact  is 
in  proof  that  those  who  have  the  best  opportunity  to 
judge  in  the  case  consider  perjury  a  common  sin. 
The  false  swearer  stakes  his  all  upon  a  lie.  He  repu- 
diates his  hope  of  heaven,  and  invokes  eternal  venge- 
ance upon  his  soul  if  his  tale  of  falsehood  is  not  true. 
Perjury  is  sometimes  influenced  by  interest,  and  at 
other  times  by  malice ;  but  in  all  cases  is  the  same 
God-provoking  sin.  Archbishop  Sharp  says,  "  In  the 
case  of  other  sins  there  may  be  an  appeal  made  to 
God's  mercy;  yet  in  this  case  of  perjury  there  is 
none,  for  he  that  is  perjured  hath  precluded  himself 
of  this  benefit  because  he  hath  braved  God  Almighty; 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TEIUMPH.  Ill 

and  hath,  in  effect,  told  him  to  his  face  that  if  he 
was  foresworn  he  should  desire  no  mercy." 

This  dreadful  sin  cries  to  heaven  for  vengeance 
from  every  court-house  and  every  justice's  office  in 
the  land.  And  then  what  of  official  perjury — officers 
of  the  law  sworn  to  keep  the  peace  and  defend  the 
law,  who  are  among  the  most  notorious  law-break- 
ers. Government  officials,  who  are  sworn  to  be 
faithful  to  their  official  duties,  compromise  their 
trust  for  the  sake  of  gain.  If  there  is  one  place  in 
hell  hotter  than  another  these  scoundrels  will  find 
that  place.  Among  these  enormous  sinners  may  be 
ranked  all  those  government  officials,  with  those  offi- 
cers of  the  army  and  of  the  navy,  who  have  gone  into 
rebellion. 

The  crimes  of  profane  and  false  swearing,  which 
are  prevalent  in  the  country,  are  enough  to  bring 
down  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  any  nation.  They 
constitute  a  dismal  cloud  which  darkens  the  heavens, 
and  spreads  desolation  over  the  land.  The  language 
of  the  prophet  Jeremiah  is  fearfully  applicable  to 
our  own  land :  "  For  because  of  swearing  the  land 
mourneth;  the  pleasant  places  of  the  wilderness 
are  dried  up,  and  their  course  is  evil,  and  their  force 
is  not  right." 

"  Lying  "  is  falsehood  spoken  with  an  intention  to 
deceive.  Dr.  S.  Clarke  says,  "  The  proper  notion  of 
a  lie  is  an  endeavoring  to  deceive  another  by  signify- 
ing that  to  him  as  true  which  we  ourselves  think  not 


112  OUK  COUNTRY  : 

to  be  so,  in  tlie  ordinary  way  of  communicating  our 
thoughts."  Paley  says,  "A  lie  is  a  breach  of  promise ; 
for  whosoever  seriously  addresses  his  discourse  to  an- 
other tacitly  promises  to  speak  the  truth,  because  he 
knows  that  truth  is  expected."  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
says,  "  He  which  promised  that  he  would  pay  money 
by  a  day,  or  promised  anything  else,  whenever  he 
faileth  hath  directly  lied  to  him  to  whom  the  promise 
hath  been  made."  Lying  is  a  breach  of  one  of  the 
conditions  of  the  social  compact,  and  tends  to  the 
dissolution  of  human  society.  The  divine  rule  is, 
"Let  every  man  speak  truth  with  his  neighbor." 
Lying  is  stamped  with  the  deepest  criminality  in  the 
representation  that  "  the  devil  is  a  liar,  and  the  father 
of  lies." 

Where  are  fhe  liars?  /They  are  in  all  ranks  of 
society.  Lies  are  told  in  business,  in  the  common 
intercourse  of  life,  in  the  strifes  of  politics.  Political 
debates  are  so  marked  by  efforts  to  deceive  that  lies 
in  politics  are  hardly  thought  to  be  out  of  order.  The 
great  southern  rebellion  is  sustained  by  stupendous 
lying. 

"And  killing."  There  is  an  awful  disregard  of  hu- 
man life  in  the  country,  independent  of  the  demoral- 
izing effects  of  the  war.  Murders  are  fearfully  prev- 
alent. Once  a  murder  was  so  extraordinary  an  oc- 
currence as  that  it  convulsed  the  whole  community ; 
now  it  is  so  common  as  to  be  little  thought  of.  What 
a  tide  of  blood  flows  from  the  dreadful  civil  war  now 


ITS  TRIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  113 

raging  in  this  country!  and  how  much  of  this  is  real 
murder ',  the  day  of  judgment  will  reveal.  The  blood  of 
this  war  will  be  found  on  somebody's  skirts.  Jefferson 
Davis  says  he  is  not  responsible  for  it.  He  is  fight- 
ing for  the  independence  of  the  South — the  North 
resists  their  claim,  and  must  take  the  responsibility  of 
all  the  consequences  which  follow.  This  would  be 
legitimate  enough  if  the  independence  of  the  South 
were  a  natural  right,  or  if  it  were  guaranteed  by  the 
Constitution  and  denied  by  the  federal  government ; 
but  neither  of  these  things  is  true.  Under  the  Con- 
stitution the  southern  states  were  as  free  as  the  north- 
ern states,  and  just  as  secure  in  all  their  rights  and 
privileges.  The  rebellion  is  without  the  least  provoca- 
tion. It  was  inaugurated  and  is  continued  by  wicked 
and  ambitious  leaders,  on  no  just  or  honorable 
grounds,  without  the  slightest  necessity,  and  the  con- 
sequence is  that  the  guilt  of  all  the  bloodshed  of  the 
war  rests  upon  their  souls. 

Saying  nothing  of  the  blood  shed  in  battle,  the 
cold-blooded  murders,  which  are  of  every-day  occur- 
rence, reach  a  fearful  aggregate.  Hanging  men  upon 
the  mere  suspicion  of  Abolitionism — shooting  colored 
prisoners,  and  slaughtering  unarmed  citizens  upon 
pretense  of  their  concealing  their  property,  or  refusing 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  rebel  government, 
or  to  be  conscripted  into  their  army.  The  aggregate 
of  murders  which  have  been  committed  in  one  or  the 

other  of  these  ways  numbers  thousands. 

8 


114  OUR  COUNTRY: 

All  this  blood  rests  upon  some  portion  of  "  the  in- 
habitants of  the  land,"  and  cries  to  heaven  for  venge- 
ance. As  God  said  to  Cain,  so  may  he  say  to-day  to 
the  southern  chivalry,  "  The  voice  of  thy  brother's 
blood  cries  to  me  from  the  ground."  Dr.  South 
says,  "  The  first  great  disturbance  in  the  world,  after 
the  fall  of  man,  was  by  a  murderer,  whom  the  venge- 
ance of  God  pursued  to  a  degree  that  he  professed 
that  his  punishment  was  greater  than  he  could  bear, 
though  he  himself  could  not  say  that  it  was  greater 
than  he  had  deserved." 

If  murder  is  against  the  laws  of  humanity,  what  an 
accumulation  of  proof  is  there  in  the  "killing  "  which 
is  constantly  going  on,  that  there  is  a  fearful  defi- 
ciency of  "  mercy  "  in  the  land. 

"  Stealing."  Locke  says,  "  The  taking  from  another 
what  is  his,  without  his  knowledge  or  allowance,  is 
properly  called  stealing ;  but  that  name  being  com- 
monly understood  to  signify  also  the  moral  pravity 
of  the  action,  and  to  denote  its  contrariety  to  the 
law,  men  are  apt  to  condemn  whatever  they  hear 
called  stealing  as  an  ill  action,  disagreeing  with  the 
rule  of  right."  Thieving  is  the  meanest  of  all  call- 
ings ;  and  yet  there  are  many  proud  spirits  who  con- 
descend to  steal.  That  the  business  has  many  votaries 
none  can  doubt.  At  present  thieves  and  burglars 
eeem  to  be  upon  a  rampage.  No  man,  when  he  be- 
takes himself  to  rest,  can  be  certain  that,  when  he 
awakes,  he  will  not  find  his  doors  forced  and  his 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TEIUMPH.  115 

house  rifled.  Professional  thieves — those  who  make 
stealing  a  business — go  out  from  our  cities  in  bands  and 
penetrate  the  villages  and  the  back  counties.  High 
functionaries  of  the  government  steal  from  the  public 
purse.  This  is  so  genteel  a  method  of  getting  money 
that  it  is  scarcely  thought  to  be  either  wicked  or  mean. 
If  an  officer  takes  any  amount  from  the  government, 
be  it  great  or  small,  without  authority,  and  not  ren- 
dering a  fair  account  of  the  same,  he  commits  a  theft : 
and  those  who  commit  theft,  from  the  petty  thefts 
of  the  servant-girl  to  that  of  the  notorious  Governor 
Floyd,  are  thieves,  and  are  to  be  ranked  with  other 
classes  of  abominable  sinners. 

"And  committing  adultery."  The  sin  here  named 
is  one  of  the  crying  sins  of  these  times.  The  sin  itself 
and  its  connections — what  leads  to  it  and  what  fol- 
lows it — permeate  the  very  texture  of  society.  These 
are  vulgar  vicefe,  but  they  are  by  no  means  confined 
to  what  is  called  vulgar  society.  They  exist  to  an 
alarming  extent  among  the  higher  classes — in  edu- 
cated and  fashionable  society.  We  have  not  yet 
reached  the  depth  of  licentiousness  which  sapped  the 
foundations  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  brought  about 
the  French  Revolution,  yet  we  are  taking  fearful 
strides  in  the  same  direction.  How  many  wrecks, 
scattered  all  along  the  coast,  warn  us  of  its  perils. 
Broken  family  circles  and  bleeding  hearts  testify  of 
the  fearful  prevalence  of  the  mischief. 

What  shall  I  say  further?     I  must   not   say  too 


116  OUR  COUNTRY: 

much,  for  by  so  doing  I  might  help  on  the  evil  which 
I  would  fain  remedy.  This  crime  is  one  of  the  most 
corrupting  of  all  the  vices.  It  strikes  in  all  direc- 
tions. It  is  a  sin  against  God,  against  human  society, 
and  against  one's  self.  It  shows  at  once  the  absence 
of  "truth,"  of  "mercy,"  and  "the  knowledge  of 
God."  Where  it  prevails — and  God  knows  it  does 
almost  everywhere — it  marks  the  decay  of  all  the 
virtues. 

The  fearful  prevalence  of  the  aforesaid  crimes  is 
indicated  in  the  expression,  "  they  break  out."  They 
are  seen  in  terrible  outbreaks.  As  a  smoldering  fire 
breaks  out  of  a  building ;  as  the  burning  lava  breflks 
out  from  a  volcano,  sending  down  the  mountain  sides 
torrents  of  fire,  overwhelming  towns  and  cities,  and 
desolating  fertile  plains,  one  outbreak  follows  another 
until  all  animal  life  and  every  green  thing  are  de- 
stroyed. 

"And  blood  touches  blood."  The  blood  of  one 
slain  victim  reaches  to  that  of  another,  and  the 
whole  surface  of  the  ground  is  covered  with  gore. 
What  a  figure  is  this!  and  yet  scarcely  a  figure. 
The  land  is  deluged  with  the  blood  of  the  slain,  and 
yet  the  work  of  death  goes  on.  Millions  cry,  "O 
earth,  cover  not  thou  our  blood,  and  let  our  cry 
come  forth !" 

Now  what  is  the  condition  of  the  public  mind  in 
view  of  all  this  awful  weight  of  criminality?  I  fear 
that  as  a  nation  we  are  not  penitent.  To-day  we  are 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  117 

indulging  in  pride  and  extravagant  outlays,  just  as  if 
several  hundred  thousands  of  our  sons  and  brothers 
had  not  been  swept  away.  Our  people  are  swinging 
out  in  pleasure  in  all  forms,  some  of  them  new,  while 
the  pall  of  death  covers  the  face  of  the  whole  country. 
The  voice  of  weeping  which  is  heard  in  every  town 
and  neighborhood  is  overborne  by  the  noise  of  music 
and  dancing. 

We  have  had  our  days  of  fasting  and  prayer ;  but 
have  they  been  characterized  by  that  evidence  of 
deep  and  hearty  contrition  which  they  should  have 
been  ?  Our  fasts  have  not  been  much  like  that  of 
Nineveh.  Nor  have  they  in  all  cases  been  productive 
of  the  fruits  described  by  the  holy  prophet.  Isaiah 
Iviii,  3,  5,  6. 

The  controversy,  and  the  method  by  which  it  is 
prosecuted. 

The  present  gigantic  civil  war  is  one  of  the  means 
which  Q-od  in  his  providence  sees  proper  to  employ 
for  the  punishment  of  the  nation  for  her  sins. 

The  southern  people  have  grievously  offended,  in 
their  cruel  oppression  of  the  African  race,  and  in  in- 
augurating this  war.  These  things  they  have  done 
in  addition  to  having  a  full  share  in  the  corruptions 
of 'which  I  have  before  spoken,  and  they  are  greater 
sufferers  from  the  consequences  of  the  war  than  the 
people  of  the  North.  Let  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  their  slain,  and  their  desolated  fields,  bear  testi- 
mony to  the  fury  of  the  storm,  which  they  have 


118  OUR  COUNTRY: 

invoked.  The  war  is  working  as  a  punishment  of  a 
most  fearful  character  for  their  terrible  crimes ;  yet 
as  we  of  the  North  are  guilty  of  many  and  aggravated 
offenses,  we  are  awfully  punished.  As  God  often 
uses  one  wicked  people  for  the  punishment  of  another, 
he  is  permitting  this  slaveholders'  rebellion  to  inflict 
upon  us  terrible  chastisement.  How  many  Rachels 
are  mourning  for  their  children,  refusing  to  be  com- 
forted because  they  are  not  ?  How  many  widowed 
wives  and  orphan  children  are  left  in  loneliness  and 
helplessness  in  every  portion  of  the  country  ?  This 
war  lays  an  awful  tribute  upon  ihe  population  of  the 
free  North,  and  the  curse  has  not  come  causeless. 

The  explanation  is  what  I  have  before  premised, 
that  God  often  uses  one  wicked  people  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  another.  He  employed  the  wicked  Assyr- 
ian king  for  the  punishment  of  his  own  people,  while 
that  king  was  at  the  same  time  moved  by  ambition, 
and  treasuring  up  a  fearful  harvest  of  divine  wrath. 
The  case  is  thus  announced  by  the  prophet :  "  O 
Assyrian,  the  rod  of  mine  anger,  and  the  staff  in  their 
hand  is  mine  indignation.  I  will  send  him  against  a 
hypocritical  nation,  and  against  the  people  of  my 
wrath  will  I  give  him  a  charge,  to  take  the  spoil,  and 
to  take  the  prey,  and  to  tread  them  down  like  the 
mire  of  the  streets.  Howbeit  he  meaneth  not  so, 
neither  doth  his  heart  think  so ;  but  it  is  in  his  heart 
to  destroy  and  cut  off  nations  not  a  few." 

Our  southern  enemies  have  no  intention  of  fulfilling 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  119 

the  councils  of  heaven  in  chastising  us  for  our  sins,  in 
which  they  themselves  have  had  a  prominent  part ; 
but  their  object  is  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  nation, 
and  to  build  up  an  independent  nationality  resting 
upon  slavery  as  its  chief  corner-stone.  Their  ambi- 
tious and  diabolical  project  shall  utterly  fail,  but  in 
the  mean  time  they  have  inflicted  upon  us  fearful  pun- 
ishment. 

God  has  allowed  us  to  suffer  reverses,  and  by  their 
means  suffers  the  war  to  be  protracted. 

This  fact  is  no  favor  to  the  rebels,  nor  any  indica- 
tion of  the  final  failure  of  our  cause.  The  problems 
of  Providence  are  often  slow  of  solution.  We  needed 
humbling,  and  may  be  we  need  it  still,  and  God  may 
see  still  further  occasion  to  try  us.  And  if  I  read 
Providence  aright  this  war  is  to  be  the  means,  in  the 
hands  of  Providence,  of  making  an  end  of  slavery, 
and  the  extent  and  continuance  of  it  are  to  be  used, 
in  the  divine  economy,  for  this  end.  If  the  war  had 
lasted  but  a  year  the  institution  would  have  survived, 
and  the  same  elements  of  discord  which  have  troubled 
the  country  from  the  beginning  of  its  history  would 
have  remained.  With  every  year  of  its  continuance 
the  peculiar  institution  has  been  losing  its  vitality,  un- 
til it  is  in  its  dying  agonies.  The  continuance  of  the 
war  is  a  scourge  to  the  North,  but  it  is  breaking  down 
the  slave  power  of  the  South.  It  is  a  severe  disci- 
pline to  us,  and  a  judicial  punishment  to  the  southern 
slaveholders;  while  it  is  a  furnace  to  melt  off  the 


120  OUR  COUNTRY: 

chains  of  four  million  of  slaves,  and  thus  to  restore 
them  to  the  rights  of  men.  How  much  longer  God 
will  contend  with  us  he  only  knows.  We  pray  that 
the  work  may  be  cut  short  in  righteousness. 

The  guilty  South  will  finally  fall. 

We  have  seen  that  God  used  the  Assyrian  king  to 
punish  \he  disobedience  of  the  Jews ;  but  what  did  he 
do  with  that  king  at  last  ?  (See  Isaiah  x,  8,  13-19, 
24-27.) 

The  overshadowing  Assyrian  power,  when  the  time 
of  divine  visitation  had  come,  was  dashed  to  pieces 
like  a  potter's  vessel,  and  never  recovered.  Yitringa 
remarks  that  "  all  the  characters  of  this  prophecy  be- 
long to  Sennacherib,  though  possibly  it  may  have  a 
more  extensive  scope,  and  refer  to  the  destruction  of 
all  the  enemies  of  God,  and  the  following  great  em- 
pires which  God  made  use  of  as  rods  and  scourges  to 
chastise  and  amend  his  people."  Bishop  Newton  ob- 
serves that  "  as  the  Assyrians  totally  destroyed  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  and  greatly  oppressed  that  of 
Judah,  no  wonder  they  are  the  subject  of  several 
prophecies.  The  prophet  here  denounceth  the 
judgments  of  God  against  Sennacherib  in  particular, 
and  against  the  Assyrians  in.  general.  God  might 
employ  them  as  ministers  of  his  wrath,  and  execution- 
ers of  his  vengeance,  and  so  make  the  wickedness  of 
some  nations  the  means  of  correcting  that  of  others." 

The  illustration  is  complete.  When  God  had  done 
using  Sennacherib  as  an  instrument,  he  destroyed 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TEIUMPH.  121 

* 

both  him  and  his  army.  Some  confidently  believe 
that  when  he  has  done  using  the  southern  slave  oli- 
garchy as  a  scourge,  he  will  then  destroy  it.  This 
great  "controversy"  will  terminate  in  the  hopeless 
and  irretrievable  ruin  of  the  political  power  of  Jeffer- 
son Davis,  and  the  utter  annihilation  of  all  his  fan- 
cies of  a  great  slave  empire  in  "  the  sunny  South." 
His  schemes  and  his  despotism  will  tumble  into  ruin 
together,  and  "  none  will  be  so  poor  as  to  do  him 
reverence."  May  the  God  of  the  Universe  hasten  it 
in  his  time  !  Amen. 


122  OUR  COUNTRY: 


Till 
THE  WRATH  OF  MAN  SHALL  PRAISE  GOD. 

SURELY  THE  WRATH  OF  MAN  SHALL  PRAISE  THEE:  THE  REMAINDER  OP 

WRATH  SHALT  THOU  RESTRAIN. — Psa.  Ixxvi,  10. 

PROVIDENCE  lias  great  problems  which  time  some- 
times solves.  It  is  difficult  for  us  to  see  how  that 
which  is  evil  and  only  evil  can  be  followed  by  benef- 
icent results.  Leaving  God  out  of  the  question,  we 
can  think  of  110  rule  of  judgment  except  that  which 
declares  that  "  an  evil  tree  cannot  bring  forth  good 
fruit ;"  we  therefore  estimate  the  result  by  the  char- 
acter of  the  cause.  The  doctrine  of  a  universal  and 
particular  providence  will  effectually  guard  against 
the  hasty  conclusion  that  any  event,  however  evil  in 
itself,  or  mischievous  in  its  immediate  results,  may 
not  be  overruled  for  good.  "  The  wrath  of  man 
worketh  not  the  righteousness  of  God,"  and  yet  God 
can  so  work  by  his  providence  that  the  wrath  of  man 
may  be  made  to  go  out  of  its  natural  course  and  sub- 
serve the  righteousness  of  God.  "  Surely  the  wrath 
of  man  shall  praise  thee." 

In  the  discussion  of  this  subject  I  propose 

To  explain  the  doctrine  that  the  wrath  of  man 
shall  praise  God. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  123 

The  Hebrew  word  W?L|5  hamat,  wrath,  is  from  a  root 
which  signifies  heat,  or  to  become  warm,  and  is  figu- 
ratively applied  to  anger,  lust,  or  any  unholy  excite- 
ment in  men.  The  text  may  consequently  be  applied 
to  anger,  malice,  envy,  ambition,  covetousness,  or 
lust.  We  here  have  a  large  class  of  the  evil  princi- 
ples and  impulses  which  inhabit  the  human  heart, 
and  break  out  into  forms  of  sin  or  crime  against  the 
laws  of  God  or  of  society ;  and  all  these  are  sub- 
ject to  the  laws  of  the  divine  government  asserted 
in  the  text,  which  I  make  the  foundation  of  the 
present  discourse.  All  the  malignant  passions  of 
the  depraved  human  heart  are  so  overruled  as  to 
be  made  subservient  to  the  cause  of  truth  and 
righteousness. 

Malice  and  envy  are  the  passions  of  devils,  but 
they  are  found  in  luxuriant  growth  in  the  human 
bosom.  The  evidence  of  them  is  cruel  injustice  and 
oppression,  wrong  and  misery  inflicted  upon  others, 
with  evil  intent. 

* 

Men  that  make 

Envy  and  crooked  malice  nourishment, 
Do  bite  the  best. — SHAKSPEAEB. 

The  ambitious  man  seeks  his  own  glory  at  any  cost. 
If  others  stand  in  his  way  he  pulls  them  down.  They 
may  be  much  better  than  himself,  but,  as  though  he 
had  a  divine  right  to  the  coveted  position,  he  de- 
mands that  they  succumb  and  allow  him  to  rise  upon 
their  ruins. 


124  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

I  charge  thee,  fling  away  ambition; 
By  that  sin  fell  the  angels :  how  can  man,  then, 
The  image  of  his  Maker,  hope  to  win  by't  ? 
Love  thyself  least,  cherish  those  hearts  that  hate  thee ; 
Corruption  wins  not  more  than  honesty. 
Still  in  thy  right  hand  carry  gentle  peace, 
To  silence  envious  tongues.    Be  just  and  fear  not; 
Let  all  the  ends  thou  aim'st  at  be  thy  country's, 
Thy  God's  and  truth's.— SHAKSPEAKE. 

Ambition  is  insatiable.  It  storms  the  giddiest 
height,  and  yet  looks  higher;  it  feeds  on  empty  air 
and  hopes  to  be  filled,  but  is  still  empty ;  it  grasps 
everything,  and  loses  all. 

Ambition,  when  the  pinnacle  is  gained 
With  many  a  toilsome  step,  the  power  it  sought 
Wants  to  support  itself,  and  sighs  to  find  ' 
The  envied  height,  but  aggravates  the  fall. 

GEOKGB  BALLY. 

Covetousness  incontinently  desires  the  wealth  of 
the  world.  It  ever  demands  more.  Like  the  two 
daughters  of  the  horse-leech,  it  cries,  "  Give,  give  !" 

0  cursed  lust  of  gold,  when  for  thy  sake 

The  fool  throws  up  his  interest  in  both  worlds ; 

First  starved  in  this,  then  damned  in  that  to  come. — BLAIR. 

The  baser  passions,  when  unrestrained,  carry  their 
victim  down  the  stream  of  indulgence  to  the  stagnant 
pool  of  dissipation.  The  excessive  indulgence  of  the 
animal  passions  sinks  the  rational  into  the  animal 
nature ;  the  image  of  God  is  degraded  into  mere  bru- 
tality, and  the  immortal  nature  receives  the  impres- 
sion of  the  beast. 

Earthly  desires  and  sensual  lust 
Are  passions  springing  from  the  dust ; 
They  fade  and  die ; 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  125 

But  in  the  life  beyond  the  tomb 
They  seal  the  immortal  spirit's  doom 
Eternally. — MANBIQUE. 

The  vile  principles  and  passions  of  men  shall  be 
made  to  praise  God.  The  outbreaking  of  human 
corruption  is  intended  to  injure  an  individual  or 
society  generally,  but  it  is  made  to  praise  God.  The 
malicious  and  envious  may  plot  mischief,  but  their 
schemes  are  overturned,  and  God  is  glorified.  Yil- 
lains  may  contrive  to  circumvent  the  unwary  and 
enrich  themselves,  or  gratify  their  evil  passions ; 
but  God  confounds  them,  and  makes  them  unwilling 
instruments  of  his  pleasure. 

God  sets  limits  to  human  passions. 
"  The  remainder  of  wrath  shalt  thou  restrain." 
The  evil  dispositions  of  men  will  not  be  allowed  to 
go  beyond  what  God  will  make  to  praise  him. 
When  human  passions  have  reached  the  bounds  of 
divine  permission  God  says :  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou 
come  and  no  further,  and  here  shall  thy  proud  waves 
be  stayed."  What  is  permitted  will  be  overruled  for 
good,  and  all  that  remains  shall  be  restrained.  No 
more  wrath  than  will  be  turned  to  God's  account  will 
he  allow.  How  far  human  passions  would  proceed  if 
it  were  not  for  God's  restraining  providence,  we  may 
not  be  able  to  determine  j  but  thus  much  we  may- 
know,  to  wit,  that  whatever  occurs  is  subject  to  the 
divine  control,  and  is  made  to  serve  some  valuable 
purpose.  What  remains,  if  it  were  not  restrained, 


12(3  OUK  COUNTEY : 

would  lay  waste  \lie  fair  heritage  of  God.  It  is  to 
be  attributed  to  divine  restraint  that  wickedness  has 
not  secured  the  mastery  and  blasted  forever  every 
bud  of  promise  in  the  moral  world.  The  good  there 
is  here  exists  in  spite  of  evil,  and  not  by  its  kind 
indulgence. 

The  designs  of  wicked  men  are  turned  aside  even 
when  they  are  permitted  to  accomplish  their  evil 
schemes.  They  execute  their  evil  schemes  when  the 
ends  which  they  propose  to  accomplish  are  wholly 
disappointed.  They  have  an  end  in  view  in  their 
calculations,  and  God  has  another  in  the  plans  of  his 
providence,  and  their  objects  and  aims  are  thwarted 
and  •  the  ends  of  divine  wisdom  are  consummated. 
When  a  wicked  project  begins  to  succeed  it  is  a 
great  error  to  conclude  that  it  will  succeed  in  the 
end,  or  that  the  wicked  devices  of  the  perverted 
intellect  engaged  in  it  will  finally  succeed.  There 
are  many  ways  in  which  Providence  can  frustrate 
the  whole  scheme,  even  down  to  the  very  point  of 
success. 

The  effects  of  a  wicked  device  may  be  wholly 
turned  aside.  The  poisoned  arrow  may  miss  its 
object  and  fall  harmlessly  on  the  ground.  God  is  a 
shield  to  the  righteous,  and  no  weapon  formed 
against  them  shall  prosper.  So  far  as  the  cause  of 
God  and  the  interests  of  the  Church  are  concerned 
they  are  safe  in  the  divine  keeping  whatever  instru- 
mentality may  be  employed  against  them. 


ITS  TKIAL  AND"  ITS  TRIUMPH.  127 

Persecution  has  often  been  employed  for  the  sup- 
pression or  ruin  of  a  good  cause,  but  has  generally 
proved  a  failure.  It  has  indeed  made  martyrs,  but 
every  martyr  it  has  made  has  not  been  an  instance  of 
defeat.  An  old  father  says,  "  The  blood  of  the  martyrs 
is  the  seed  of  the  Church."  It  is  one  thing  to  silence 
the  voice  of  a  reformer,  and  another  to  crush  a  ref- 
ormation. One  set  of  agents  employed  in  the  sup- 
port of  a  cause  may  be  disposed  of,  but  God  can  raise 
up  another,  or,  if  need  be,  can  sustain  the  cause  with- 
out agents.  "  There  is  no  wisdom  nor  understanding 
nor  counsel  against  the  Lord." 

Infidelity  has  had  its  malicious  plots  against  the 
Church,  and  has  laid  science  and  learning  under  con- 
tribution for  the  destruction  of  her  strong  foundations, 
but  its  best  laid  schemes  have  failed  of  their  desired 
results.  Organizations  have  been  formed,  lectures 
founded,  and  books  written  against  the  claims  of  di- 
vine revelation,  but  they  have  only  had  the  effect  to 
call  forth  the  talents  of  the  Church  in  its  defense,  and 
of  adding  new  triumphs  of  the  cause  of  revealed  relig- 
ion. Paine's  "  Age  of  Reason  "  has  malice  enough 
in  it  to  annihilate  Christianity,  and  to  curse  the  whole 
world ;  but  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  it  has  had 
the  least  effect  to  impede  the  progress  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  world.  God  takes  care  that  the  natural  con- 
sequences of  every  assault  made  upon  the  truth  of 
Christianity  shall  be  turned  aside  ;  and  that,  in  spite 
of  the  malice  of  men  and  devils,  the  kingdom  of  Christ 


128  OUR  COUNTRY: 

shall  march  steadily  on  to  the  consummation  of  his 
grand  and  glorious  purposes. 

I  shall  finally  proceed  to  give  some  illustrations  of 
the  doctrine  of  the  text. 

Illustrations  are  scattered  so  abundantly  through 
the  pages  of  the  Bible  and  of  profane  history  that  it 
is  difficult  to  select.  A  few  only  among  the  many 
can  be  employed. 

For  the  first  instance  I  take  the  oppression  and 
persecution  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  Egypt. 

Pharaoh's  object  was  to  prevent  the  too  great  in- 
crease and  growth  of  the  Israelites,  and  to  discipline 
them  to  slavery.  The  terrible  oppressions  to  which 
the  people  of  Israel  were  subjected  were  not  allowed 
by  Providence  to  proceed  so  far  as  to  annihilate,  or 
even  to  diminish  them.  Indeed,  "the  more  they 
afflicted  them  the  more  they  multiplied  and  grew." 
When  the  people  had  escaped  from  Egypt,  Pharaoh 
pursued  them  with  his  army  and  hemmed  them  in 
at  the  Ked  Sea;  but  there  he  was  destroyed. 

As  a  part  of  the  system  of  God's  restraining  provi- 
dence should  be  taken  into  the  account  the  plagues 
with  which  Egypt  was  visited  and  Pharaoh's  infi- 
delity was  rebuked.  The  Lord  said  to  Pharaoh, 
"  And  in  very  deed  for  this  cause  have  I  raised  thee 
up,  for  to  show  in  thee  my  power;  and  that  my 
name  may  be  declared  throughout  all  the  earth." 
Pharaoh's  design  was  to  hold  the  children  of  Israel  in 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  129 

bondage,  and  make  their  enslavement  a  source  of 
great  gain ;  but  he  reached  a  point  -where  his  way 
was  hedged  up,  and  he  became  the  unwilling  instru- 
ment of  a  glorious  manifestation  of  divine  power  and 
providence.  He  kicked  against  the  restraint  until  he 
fell  before  it.  If  this  great  offender  had  ceased  from 
his  furor  of  rebellion  early  in  his  conflict  with  God, 
he  might  have  escaped  the  terrible  catastrophe  which 
befell  him  ;  but  he  poured  out  his  wrath  to  the  bitter 
end,  and  it  was  made  to  praise  God.  Here  is  a  fear- 
ful example  of  the  fact  that  when  a  man  is  so  satu- 
rated with  wrath  that  no  indications  of  the  divine 
judgments  will  bring  him  to  terms,  summary  destruc- 
tion is  at  hand. 

The  next  illustration  I  give  is  the  case  of  Joseph. 

There  are  two  instances  in  the  history  of  Joseph 
which  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  text.  The  first 
is  his  being  sold  into  Egypt  by  his  brethren.  The 
ruling  principle  which  moved  the  brethren  of  Joseph 
to  sell  him  was  envy.  Joseph  was  his  father's  favor- 
ite, and  acted  as  a  sort  of  spy  to  report  to  his  father 
the  misdeeds  of  his  brethren.  His  prophetic. dreams, 
which  foreshadow  his  elevation  above  his  brethren, 
were  matters  of  serious  offense  and  jealousy.  Avail- 
ing themselves  of  a  favorable  occasion,  they  sold  him 
to  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelitish  merchants,  and  contrived 
a  scheme  to  make  their  father  believe  that  he  had 
been  devoured  by  a  wild  beast.  The  brothers  in- 
tended to  remove  Joseph  from  the  family  circle,  and 


130  OUR  COUNTRY: 

thereafter  to  be  rid  of  his  watchful  and  reproving 
eye.  There  was  a  mixture  of  bad  passions  developed 
in  this  transaction.  There  was  added  to  envy,  mal- 
ice, wounded  pride,  jealousy,  and  some  of  the  mean- 
ness of  cupidity.  They  sold  him  for  twenty  pieces 
of  silver,  about  three  pounds  sterling,  or  half  the 
price  of  a  slave  on  the  African  coast  in  modern 
times.  Now  they  supposed  Joseph  fairly  out  of  their 
way. 

The  consequences  of  this  flagrant  instance  of  wick- 
edness were  taken  under  the  guidance  of  Providence, 
and,  after  several  strange  changes  and  threatening 
reverses,  Joseph  became  governor  of  Egypt  and  the 
deliverer  of  liis  family  from  death  by  famine.  "When 
Joseph  made  himself  known  to  his  brethren  he  gave 
them  his  construction  of  the  theology  taught  in  the 
whole  matter  of  his  coming  to  Egypt.  "  Now  there- 
fore," he  says,  "  be  not  grieved,  nor  angry  with  your- 
selves, that  ye  sold  me  hither :  for  God  did  send  me 
before  you  to  preserve  life."  "  Surely  the  wrath  of 
man  shall  praise  thee,  and  the  remainder  of  wrath 
shalt  thou  restrain."  The  illustration  is  perfect. 
Their  wickedness  was  arrested  at  the  precise  point 
where  it  was  not  to  be  made  a  further  instrument 
of  showing  forth  the  glory  of  God. 

Another  instance  in  the  history  of  Joseph,  in  which 
a  vile  passion  was  made  to  praise  God,  was  the 
wicked  passion  and  the  base  falsehood  of  the  wife  of 
Potiphar.  A  disappointed  wicked  woman  stops  at 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  131 

nothing.  In  tins  case,  to  conceal  her  own  shame, 
she  falsely  accuses  Joseph,  and,  to  all  human  appear- 
ance, effects  his  utter  ruin.  He  is  cast  into  a  vile 
prison  among  presumed  felons.  There  God  prepared 
a  train  of  circumstances  which  led  to  his  elevation 
to  the  position  of  a  prince  in  the  kingdom.  What 
human  wisdom  could  have  turned  such  malign  dis- 
positions and  schemes  to  such  glorious  account? 
That  wicked  wroman  thought  to  deprive  Joseph  of  all 
power  as  an  informer  or  a  witness ;  but  God  used 
her  wicked  schemes  to  invest  him  with  the  dignity 
of  a  prophet,  the  power  of  a  great  civil  ruler,  and  a 
benefactor  of  the  Egyptians  and  of  his  father's  house. 

The  story  of  Joseph  has  the  charm  of  a  beautiful 
and  skillfully  constructed  romance.  The  hero  of  the 
tale  is  a  splendid  character ;  indeed,  everything  that 
could  be  desired.  His  story  is  full  of  marvels,  and  it 
ascends  to  the  dkzy  heights  of  power  and  influence 
without  being  marred  by  a  single  vice  or  weakness. 
A  more  wonderful  character  and  a  greater  moral  hero 
than  Joseph  is  not  found  in  the  history  of  man  ;  and 
what  is  remarkable  is  that  the  great  facts  in  his  story 
are  illustrations  and  confirmations  of  the  doctrine 
that  God  uses  the  vilest  instruments  and  the  vilest 
acts  for  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glory. 

Passing  a  multitude  of  historical  facts  and  events 
which  might  advantageously  be  seized  upon  as  illus- 
trations of  my  theme,  I  select  the  persecutions  of  the 
Puritans. 


132  OUR  'COUNTRY : 

The  uncompromising  war  which  commenced  on 
"  popish  rags  "  and  English  formalism,  by  an  earnest 
stern  class  of  the-  descendants  of  the  Reformation, 
resulted  in  a  relentless  persecution.  After  the  Ref- 
ormation from  popery  in  England,  the  English  sover- 
eigns continued  to  administer  the  government  upon 
the  principle  of  uniformity,  claiming  the  right  to 
force  the  consciences  of  the  worshipers  into  conform- 
ity with  the  forms  and  usages  of  the  national  estab- 
lishment. The  Puritans  demanded  liberty  of  con- 
science ;  the  government  denied  this  right ;  and  the 
consequence  was  that  great  numbers  of  godly  pastors 
were  ejected  from  their  parishes,  and  their  hungry 
flocks  were  deprived  of  their  pastoral  oversight. 

The  relentless  persecutions  which  followed,  with 
fines  and  imprisonment,  under  the  Stuarts,  sent  away 
to  the  wilds  of  America  both  pastors  and  flocks  in 
great  numbers.  The  New  England  colonies  were 
principally  peopled  with  refugees,  who  loved  liberty 
of  conscience  more  than  the  quiet  possession  of  home 
and  plenty,  and  sought  that  precious  boon  in  the 
western  wilderness.  They  chose  liberty  among  the 
wild  beasts  and  merciless  savages  rather  than  to  be 
restrained  in  the  free  exercise  of  their  consciences  in- 
honor  and  abundance.  God  smiled  upon  the  fugi- 
tive colonists,  and  the  wilderness  soon  budded  and 
blossomed  as  the  rose.  The  result  has  been  a  suc- 
cessful experiment  in  the  way  of  a  free  government, 
and  a  Church  untrammeled  by  the  State. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  133 

The  Act  of  Uniformity  under  the  reign  of  Charles 
II.,  and  the  persecution  which  followed,  were  designed 
to  stifle  dissent,  and  to  settle  the  question  of  the  right 
of  the  state  to  establish  a  uniform  system  of  religious 
worship.  In  the  mind  of  God,  however,  this  un- 
Bcriptural  and  unphilosophical  system  of  compulsion, 
in  matters  of  conscience,  was  to  be  judged  and  con- 
demned by  an  experiment  which  it  forced  on  by 
its  struggles  for  ascendency.  Persecution  which  was 
designed  to  annihilate  dissent,  organized  and  estab- 
lished its  fundamental  principles  and  forms  upon  the 
western  continent,  and  sent  over  Europe  a  tide  of 
light  in  favor  of  "a  State  without  a  king  and  a 
Church  without  a  bishop."  The  whole  history  of  the 
American  Church  has  been  a  standing  reproof  of  the 
system  of  constrained  obedience  to  forms  and  cere- 
monies of  man's  devising.  The  great  principle  of  a 
free  Gospel,  a  free  Church,  and  a  free  conscience,  may 
now  be  considered  as  settled  forever. 

The  fourth  and  last  illustration  which  I  shall  pre- 
sent of  the  doctrine  of  the  text  is  the  great  slave- 
holders' rebellion,  with  which  the  nation  is  at  pres- 
ent contending. 

It  may  be  considered  hazardous  to  use  unfinished 
history  to  illustrate  a  principle.  The  rebellion  not 
yet  being  completed,  it  may  be  supposed  impossible 
to  say  whether  it  will  be  an  instance  of  successful 
rebellion  or  an  utter  failure.  The  progress  of  the 
conflict  thus  far,  and  the  indications  of  what  will 


134  OUR  COUNTRY: 

probably  occur  at  no  distant  date,  afford  data  for  a 
tolerably  correct  conclusion  with  regard  to  the  class 
of  instructive  historical  events  with  which  the  great 
American  rebellion  is  finally  to  be  associated.  Com- 
ing events  cast  their  shadows  before  them.  The  dis- 
patches of  these  few  days  past  unmistakably  indicate 
that  the  time  for  writing  the  history  of  the  rebellion 
has  nearly  arrived.*  At  all  events  I  shall  venture  to 
assume  what  will  be  the  character  of  the  lesson  which 
that  history  will  teach. 

Several  theories,  in  turn,  have  been  promulgated 
by  the  rebel  savans  of  the  objects  of  the  rebellion. 
One  is,  that  it  is  resistance  of  northern  aggression  ; 
another,  that  it  is  in  defense  of  their  domestic  insti- 
tutions ;  and  another,  that  it  is  to  establish  southern 
independence.  Whichever  of  these  be  the  cause 
which  has  originated  the  movement,  or  whether  all 
have  had  a  hand  in  it,  is  not  material,  so  far  as  the 
investigation  in  hand  is  concerned.  In  either  case 
the  rebellion  originated  in  false  or  vicious  principles. 
It  is  the  offshoot  of  pride,  ambition,  lust  of  power,  or 
a  love  of  human  bondage,  or  all  together.  The  ag- 
gressions which  they  speak  of  are  imaginary;  the 
slavery  which  they  would  protect  and  perpetuate  is 
a  system  of  injustice ;  and  as  for  southern  independ- 
ence, it  is  not  a  right  of  the  southern  people.  The 
rebellion  is  based  upon  false  assumptions,  and  is  car- 
ried on  by  a  system  of  plunder  and  wholesale  murder. 

*  Written  December  10,  18G4. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  135 

the  question  is,  How  God  is  managing  the 
results  of  this  deluge  of  wrath  which  the  southern 
slaveholders  are  pouring  out  ?  If  I  understand  the 
movements  of  Providence,  the  rebellion  is  working 
out  the  destruction  of  slavery  and  the  humiliation  of 
the  slave  oligarchy.  These  results  are  evidently  in 
the  mind  of  God  in  the  whole  process.  The  rebel 
leaders  meant  to  create  a  government  with  slavery  for 
its  chief  corner-stone,  and  to  establish  an  order  of 
nobility — an  upper  grade  of  society.  God  is  work- 
ing for  the  disappointment  of  these  projects — the 
destruction  of  the  system  of  slavery,  and  the  humil- 
iation and  overthrow  of  the  southern  aristocracy. 
'When,  the  rebellion  shall  have  gone  as  far  as  God 
sees  good  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  designs,  it 
will  be  restrained. 

War  in  itself  is  a  terrible  scourge  and  an  awful 
calamity.  It  is  almost  always  the  product  of  wicked 
passions.  Its  evils  are  innumerable.  It  is  a  yawn- 
ing gulf,  which  swallows  up  millions  of  treasure  and 
millions  of  precious  lives  without  being  satisfied.'  It 
will  be  a  difficult  problem  to  solve  what  is  the 
amount  of  destruction  which  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
has  occasioned.  The  judgment-day  alone  will  bring 
to  light  the  terrible  guilt  of  this  war.  We  may 
apply  to  the  authors  of  it,  with  some  little  variations, 
the  prophetic  curse  which  the  patriarch  Jacob  pro- 
nounced upon  Simeon  and  Levi :  "  Instruments  of 
cruel tv  are  in  their  habitations.  O  my  soul,  come 


136  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

not  thou  into  their  secret ;  unto  their  assembly,  mine 
honor,  be  not  thou  united :  for  in  their  anger  they 
slew  a  man,  and  in  their  self-will  they  digged  down 
a  wall.  Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce ;  and 
their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel :  I  will  divide  them  in 
Jacob,  and  scatter  them  in  Israel."  Gen.  xlix,  5-7. 

Fearful  as  this  war  is  in  its  destruction  of  life  and 
property,  it  will  undoubtedly  be  overruled  for  the 
good  of  the  world.  God  has  his  own  method  in  deal- 
ing with  it.  It  is  a  fact  which  history  abundantly 
establishes,  that  great  national  reforms  are  preceded 
by  a  baptism  of  blood.  Sometimes  there  are  evils 
in  the  body  politic  which  the  peaceful  measures  of 
progress  are  not  suited  to  remove — they  can  only  be 
purged  out  by  fire  and  the  sword.  Wicked  men  and 
corrupt  principles  must  be  removed.  War  is  waged 
upon  the  peace  and  the  rights  of  society,  and  the  am- 
bitious and  wicked  agents  engaged  in  it,  under  the 
control  of  Providence,  destroy  themselves,  they  and 
their  refuges  of  lies  perishing  together.  God  knows 
how  to  manage  the  ship  of  state  in  a  great  national 
tempest.  He  knows  when  to  suffer  the  wrath  of 
designing  and  wicked  men  to  proceed  and  when  to 
restrain  it.  When  he  has  no  further  use  for  the 
present  civil  war  he  will  bring  it  to  an  end.  He 
will  make  it  contribute  largely  to  the  advancement 
of  the  race  in  knowledge  and  virtue.  His  kingdom 
shall  be  advanced,  and  made  to  triumph  by  ".the 
wrath  of  man." 


ITS  TEIAL   AND   ITS  TKIUJVIFH.  137 

I  shall  close  this  discourse  with  a  few  observations. 

The  wrath  of  man  is  not  occasioned  or  brought 
about  by  God.  The  wrath  is  man's  work,  man's  sin. 
The  overruling  it  is  entirely  distinct  from  the  thing 
itself.  The  guilt  and  responsibility  of  the  wrong  is 
with  the  transgressor,  but  it  is  God's  part  to  see  that 
it  does  not  accomplish  the  destructive  ends  which  it 
designs :  more,  he  will  make  it  minister  to  the  praise 
of  his  glorious  name. 

The  guilty  originator  of  an  evil  scheme  is  just  as 
culpable  as  he  would  be  if  it  had  accomplished  all 
the  mischief  which  was  intended.  That  the  flood  of 
wrath  which  is  poured  out  by  wicked  men  and  devils ' 
does  not  affect  all  the  ruin  intended  is  no  credit  to 
them.  They  are  just  as  responsible  and  as  guilty 
when  it  is  all  made  to  praise  God,  as  they  would  have 
been  if  it  had  desolated  the  land,  and  blasted  every 
bud  of  hope  for  the  future  of  the  Church  and  the 
world. 

Although  God  uses  wicked  men  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  grand  designs,  he  is  not  therefore 
dependent  upon  them.  If  men  should  cease  to  pour 
out  their  wrath,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  God's  re- 
sources would  fail.  His  praise  would  still  be  sounded 
out  through  the  vast  universe  by  innumerable  voices. 
Heaven  above  and  the  earth  beneath  would  be  full 
of  harmony.  The  starry  heavens  would  declare  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  would  show  forth 
his  handiwork.  If  the  wrath  of  man  is  made  to 


138  OUR  COUNTRY: 

praise  God,  his  love  and  obedience  would  contribute 
much  more  to  the  measure  of  glory  to  which  he  is 
entitled.  That  Divine  Providence  uses  the  evil  agen- 
cies of  earth  and  hell  for  purposes  of  good,  is  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  wealth  and  not  of  the  poverty  of  the 
divine  resources.  He  who  can  glorify  himself  through 
the  very  wrath  of  his  enemies  must  be  infinite  in 
resources. 

We  may  rejoice  to  know  that  a  time  is  coming 
when  there  will  be  no  more  "wrath  of  man,"  but 
love  and  the  feelings  of  a  common  brotherhood  shall 
be  universal.  The  day  is  not  far  distant  when*  men 
shall  "  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks ;"  when  the  baser  passions 
shall  be  purged  out  from  the  earth,  and  the  heavenly 
principles  of  charity  and  mutual  good-will  shall  grace 
the  various  grades  of  society,  sanctify  the  family, 
give  character  to  the  intercourse  of  nations,  and 
crown  the  Church  with  millennial  glory. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  139 


IX. 
SLAVERY. 

AND  HORSES,  AND  CHARIOTS,  AND  SLAVES,  AND  SOULS  OF  MEN. 

Rev.  xviii,  13. 

The  word  dco/mT«v,  rendered  slaves,  should  be  bod- 
ies :  bodies  and  souls  of  men.  A  parallel  passage  is  to 
be  found  in  Ezek.  xxvii,  13 :  "  They  traded  the  per- 
sons of  men  and  vessels  of  brass  in  thy  market." 
The  word  persons  does  not  give  the  specific  idea 
of  the  original,  &"*  B^9?,  in  souls  of  men.  Sept., 
Souls  of  men.  The  bodies  and  souls  of  men  were 
matters  of  commerce  in  Tyre  and  in  Borne;  that 
is,  they  traded  in  slaves  the  same  as  they  did  in 
"  vessels  of  brass,"  in  "  chariots,"  and  in  "  horses." 
The  bodies  and  souls  of  men  were  mixed  up  with 
beasts  of  burden  and  all  sorts  of  material  commodi- 
ties. This  is  precisely  the  idea  of  southern  slavery 
under  the  laws  of  the  slave  states.  Slaves  in  these 
laws  are  defined  "  chattels  personal,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes ." 

The  exigencies  of  the  controversy  on  the  subject 
of  slavery  have  called  forth  a  variety  of  definitions  of 
the  institution.  A  learned  doctor,  who  has  written  a 
book  upon  the  subject,  defines  slavery  service.  A 


140  OUR  COUNTRY: 

wife  owes  to  her  husband  service,  a  child  owes  his 
parents  service,  and  if  it  is  a  moral  wrong  for  a  mas- 
ter to  enforce  service  upon  a  slave,  that  gentleman 
demands,  is  it  not  morally  wrong  to  require  service  of 
a  wife  or  a  son  ?  This  is  a  palpable  and  a  senseless 
sophism.  This  definition  of  slavery  is  no  definition 
at  all.  A  definition  is  a  statement  of  the  genus  and 
the  diiference.  We  have  the  genus  here,  but  have 
not  the  species,  or  the  difference  between  slavery  and 
any  other  species  of  service.  Saying  that  slavery  is 
service  is  saying  nothing.  "We  want  to  know  the 
conditions  of  the  service,  on  what  ground  the  master 
claims  it,  how  he  enforces  it,  how  long  it  continues, 
and  what  effect  it  has  upon  the  posterity  of  the 
slave.  Clearly,  if  the  service  of  a  wife  and  of  a  son 
does  not  imply  the  right  of  property,  and  consequent- 
ly the  right  of  sale,  we  cannot  reason  from  one  to 
the  other.  One  may  be  consistent  with  the  laws  of 
humanity  and  justice  while  the  other  is  not.  "What 
then  is  slavery?  What  is  African  slavery  in  the 
slave  states  of  the  South  ?  This  is  the  question  which 
I  shall  attempt  to  answer. 

What  is  African  slavery  in  the  slave  states  of 
America  ? 

I  do  not  now  discuss  Hebrew  bondage  nor  the 
slavery  of  the  ancients,  but  the  slavery  of  the  Afri- 
can race  as  it  exists  in  this  country. 

This  species  of  slavery  implies  complete  ownership. 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 

The  slave  is  the  property  of  his  master,  subject  to  all 
the  conditions  of  any  other  species  of  property.  He 
is  absolutely  subject  to  the  will  of  his  master,  liable 
to  sale  as  much  as  a  horse  or  an  ox,  and  consequently 
liable  to  be  separated  from  all  his  home  associations 
and  relations.  The  wife  is  separated  from  the  hus- 
band, and  the  husband  from  the  wife ;  the  child  from 
the  parent,  and  the  parent  from  the  child.  The  slave 
descends  to  heirs-at-law  the  same  as  any  other  prop- 
erty, and  is  sold  at  sheriff's  sale  for  debt  the  same  as 
oxen  or  horses.  The  slave  is  not  regarded  'by  the 
slave  code  as  a  person,  but  as  a  thing,  a  mere  article 
of  trade. 

The  slave's  body  and  soul  are  sold  in  the  market. 
Strength  and  agility,  health  and  comeliness,  all  go  to 
enhance  the  value  of  the  slave,  and  these  properties 
are  sold.  Intellectual  and  moral  qualities  are  taken 
into  the  account  in  the  sale  of  a  slave.  If  the  slave 
has  genius,  that  genius  is  sold ;  if  he  has  mechanical 
skill,  that  skill  is  sold  ;  if  he  has  moral  qualities  they 
are  sold ;  if  he  has  a  conscience,  that  conscience  is 
sold  ;  if  he  is  a  Christian,  his  religion  is  sold ;  if  he 
is  a  Methodist  exhorter,  or  a  Baptist  preacher,  his 
gifts  are  sold.  His  soul  goes  with  his  body  to  the 
auction  block.  The  grace  and  the  image  of  God  and 
the  purchase  of  the  Saviour's  blood  go  under  the 
hammer  like  the  qualities  of  a  blood-hound  or  an  old 
wagon.  Slave  dealers  "  trade  in  the  bodies  and  the 
souls  of  men."  It  is  essential  to  a  man  that  he  own 


H2  OUE  COUNTRY: 

himself;  it  is  essential  to  a  woman  that  she  have  con- 
trol over  her  own  person ;  but  the  slave  is  wholly  the 
property  of  another,  and,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  is 
subject  to  his  control,  body  and  soul.  Slavery  con- 
sequently denudes  the  slave  of  all  that  constitutes 
him  an  intelligent,  moral,  and  responsible  being. 
The  slave  may  think  in  spite  of  his  master,  but  so  far 
as  thought  comes  out  in  actions  he  can  only  think  in 
'one  way.  He  may  love  God,  but  his  religious  affec- 
tions must  be  subordinated  to  the  will  of  his  owner. 

In  a  limited  sense  it  must  be  admitted  that  a 
slave  may  be  a  Christian ;  but  it  is  only  in  such  a 
sense  as,  under  compulsion,  religion  can  survive  a  vio- 
lation of  the  moral  law.  When  this  can  take  place 
I  leave  for  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  to  determine. 

Under  these  conditions  the  responsibilities  of  a 
slaveholder  are  fearful  beyond  all  conception.  He  is 
responsible  for  the  actions,  the  life,  the  character,  and 
the  eternal  destiny  of  his  slaves.  If  slaves  are  com- 
pelled to  minister  to  the  brutal  passions  of  their  mas- 
ters, and  by  that  means  are  eternally  lost,  what  a 
weight  of  responsibility  rests  upon  the  shoulders  of 
the  master.  They  are  guilty  of  the  blood  of  the  vic- 
tims of  their  lust.  An  awful  weight  £>f  responsibility 
rests  upon  their  souls  which  they  will  have  to  meet 
before  the  bar  of  God.  Slaveholding  in  the  mildest 
form  involves  too  great  a  responsibility  for  any  human 
being,  and  by  a  good  conscience  should  be  shunned  as 
the  gates  of  hell. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  143 

The  slave  is  held  for  life.  The  Jewish  servant  was 
set  free  from  servitude  on  the  year  of  release,  but  the 
slave  of  the  South  is  held  absolutely  at  the  pleasure  of 
his  master ;  and  more  recently  the  laws  of  the  slave 
states  prohibit  emancipation,  or  surround  it  with  so 
many  difficulties  that  it  amounts  to  a  legal  impossi- 
bility for  the  slaveholder  to  give  freedom  to  his  slaves. 
Death  only  releases  the  poor  African  slave  from  his 
inexorable  doom. 

One  of  the  conditions  of  slavery  is  that  the 
descendants  of  the  slave,  to  the  latest  generation, 
are  slaves.  Under  the  divine  law  "  the  son  shall  not 
bear  the  iniquity  of  the  father."  Why  should  the 
son  be  a  slave  because  his  mother  was  a  slave  ?  If 
all  men  are  created  free,  as  we  have  a  right  to  assume 
that  they  are,  and  as  that  immortal  bill  of  rights,  the 
Declaration  of  American  Independence,  asserts,  no 
human  being  can  be  born  a  slave.  The  idea  of  hered- 
itary slavery  is  only  suitable  to  the  barbarous  ages. 
The  idea  of  individuality  and  individual  responsibil- 
ity, which  is  so  clearly  maintained  in  this  advanced 
period  of  the  world's  history,  is  utterly  at  war  with 
that  essential  feature  of  African  slavery  which  entails 
servitude  upon  the  descendants  of  the  slave  forever. 
Bad  enough,  too  bad,  that  the  slave  should  have  no 
hope  of  personal  liberty  during  his  natural  life,  but 
overwhelmingly  horrible  that  his  offspring  should  be 
doomed  to  the  same  condition  of  vassalage  to  the 
latest  generation. 


144  OUK  COUNTRY: 

I  sliall  next  proceed  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  history 
of  slavery. 

Slavery  had  its  origin  in  the  barbarous  ages. 
Clans  and  nations  of  savages  made  war  upon  each 
other,  and  made  slaves  of  those  who  were  taken  cap- 
tives. The  patriarchs  held  servants,  but  although 
they  were  sometimes  purchased  they  were  not  sold, 
but  often  became  heir  to  their  master's  estate.  They 
were  the  stewards  of  the  house,  and  oftenr  transacted 
all  the  outdoor  business.  "  Eliezer  of  Damascus  " 
was  Abram's  servant,  and  before  Isaac  was  born  was 
his  "  heir."  It  is  universally  held  by  comment- 
ators that  it  was  this  same  Eliezer  with  whom 
was  intrusted  the  important  business  of  negotiating 
for  a  wife  for  Isaac.  Servitude  under  the  patri- 
archs was  tempered  with  justice,  confidence,  and 
forbearance,  and  it  must  have  been  a  blessing 
to  slaves  among  the  heathen  to  be  purchased  into 
comparative  freedom.  There  was  little  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  cruel  heathen  bondage,  or  of  African 
slavery,  in  the  servitude  which  was  in  use  among 
the  patriarchs. 

The  Jews  held  the  heathen  in  slavery  under  a  tem- 
porary divine  sanction.  The  ancient  Greeks  reduced 
a  caste  to  slavery.  The  Helots  were  bought  and 
sold  as  slaves,  and  were  in  a  condition  of  abject  bond- 
age. The  Eomans  and  the  ancient  Germans  held 
slaves.  Captives  taken  in  war  from  nearly  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  were  sold  in  Eome  like  beasts  in 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  145 

the  shambles.  These  slaves  were  generally  white, 
and  not  inferior  to  their  conquerors  in  intelligence 
and  civilization.  In  the  sixth  century  Pope  Gregory 
saw  Englishmen  in  the  slave-market  in  Rome  who 
were  of  so  fair  a  countenance,  and  so  fine  an  appear- 
ance generally,  that  he  said,  '•*  call  them  not  Angli 
but  Angeli"  Considering  it  a  pity  that  such  a  race 
should  be  without  the  Gospel,  the  Pope  sent  the 
monk  Augustine  to  England  to  convert  the  people  to 
Home.  This  piece  of  history  is  referred  to  in  proof 
that  slaves  were  not  anciently  selected  from  inferior 
races. 

Negro  slavery  sprung  up  much  later  than  the  times 
of  which  I  have  yet  spoken.  In  the  wars  between 
Carthage  and  Home,  Romans  and  Carthagenians 
were  alternately  made  slaves.  There  was  no  enslave- 
ment of  color  or  of  caste.  The  same  was  the  fact 
from  the  period  of  the  highest  glory  of  the  Roman 
empire  to  its  decline  and  fall.  African  slaves  came 
into  request  in  later  times. 

The  African  slave-trade  had  its  origin  after  the 
discovery  of  America,  to  supply  the  West  Indies 
with  laborers.  The  Portuguese  were  the  first  to 
engage  in  the  murderous  work  of  stealing  the 
poor  negroes  from  their  quiet  bowers,  selling  them 
into  perpetual  bondage.  The  Dutch  navigators 
brought  the  first  African  slaves  to  Xorth  America. 
In  1551  the  English  began  to  trade  in  negroes,  and 

in  1556  Sir  John  Hawkins  sailed  with  two  ships  to 

10 


146  OUK  COUNTRY: 

Cape  Yerde,  whence  lie  sent  out  men  to  capture  ne- 
groes. The  following  order  to  the  colonial  govern- 
ment at  New  York  from  Queen  Anne  is  remarkable. 
They  were  to  "  take  care  that  the  Almighty  should 
be  devoutly  and  duly  served  according  to  the  rites 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  also  that  the  Royal 
African  Company  should  be  encouraged,  and  that 
the  colony  should  have  a  constant  and  sufficient 
supply  of  merchantable  negroes  at  moderate  rates." 
The  British  government  had  this  nefarious  trade 
under  its -supervision  until  it  was  abolished  in  1807. 

The  hand  which  the  parent  government  had  in 
bringing  to  her  colonies  such  a  vast  mass  of  slaves 
is  made  matter  of  complaint  in  Jefferson's  orig- 
inal draft  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  It 
was  a  great  branch  of  commerce  which  kept  the 
English  vessels  in  profitable  employment.  Our 
statesmen,  at  the  formation  of  the  federal  Con- 
stitution, did  not  allow  the  word  slave  or  slavery 
to  be  incorporated  into  that  instrument,  suppos- 
ing that  the  institution  would  gradually  die  out. 
The  exigences  of  the  cotton-growing  business,  how- 
ever, created  a  demanc^  for  labor  in  the  southern 
states,  and  African  slavery  came  to  be  considered  a 
necessity.  An  "  irrepressible  conflict  "  between  slave 
and  free  labor  sprung  up,  and  has  been  in  progress 
until  the  opening  of  the  existing -rebellion.  During 
the  last  thirty  years  especially  the  question  of  slavery 
has  been  discussed  in  the  country  politically,  econorn- 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  147 

ically,  and  morally,  until  the  subject   ought  to  be 
well  understood  by  all  thoughtful  people. 

A  multitude  of  books  have  been  written  upon  the 
various  aspects  of  the  subject  of  slavery.  Its  history 
and  bearings  have  been  copiously  delineated,  and 
the  literature  of  the  subject  can  scarcely  be  mas- 
tered by  a  person  of  ordinary  capacity  in  a  lifetime. 
I  must  content  myself  with  having  given  a  mere 
sketch.* 

I  shall  next  notice  the  principal  arguments  by 
which  slavery  is  defended. 

It  was  once  quite  a  popular  argument,  or  at  least 
an  assumed  reason  in  favor  of  African  slavery,  that 
the  African  race  is  doomed  to  perpetual  slavery  by 
the  irrevocable  decree  of  heaven.  The  proof  of  this 
proposition  is  found  in  the  prophetic  curse  of  Noah  : 
"  Cursed  be  Canaan  ;  a  servant  of  servants  shall  he  be 
to  his  brethren."  Gen.  ix,  25. 

In  order  to  make  out  an  argument  from  this  text 
two  assumptions  are  made.  The  first  is,  that  the  de- 
scendants of  Canaan  were  Mack  •  and  secondly r,  that 
the  curse  in  the  case  dooms  them  all  to  slavery. 

In  answer  to  the  first  assumption,  let  it  be  observed 
that  the  Canaanites  were  not  negroes.  The  denial 
of  this  assumption  is  sufficient  until  proof  is  offered ; 
but  it  may  here  be  noted  that  Canaan  settled  on  the 

*  An  excellent  sketch  of  the  history  of  slavery  may  be  Yound  in  Ap- 
pleton's  American  Encyclopedia,  article,  Slavery. 


148  OUR  COUNTRY: 

east  of  the  Mediterranean  in  Asia,  while  the  negro 
race  is  universally  admitted  to  have  been  first  found 
in  Africa. 

As  to  the  second  assumption,  that  Noah  pro- 
nounces the  doom  of  perpetual  slavery  upon  the  de- 
scendants of  Canaan,  it  may  be  observed  that  noth- 
ing more  is  necessarily  to  be  understood  by  this  curse 
than  that  the  Canaanites  should  be  a  conquered  peo- 
ple, as  in  fact  they  were  under  Joshua.  Having 
been  subdued  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  nations 
which  descended  from  Ham  either  remained  in  a 
state  of  vassalage  in  the  land  of  promise,  or  were 
scattered  among  other  nations.  Calmet  tells  us  that 
the  remnants  of  these  conquered  nations  fled  to 
Greece  and  Egypt,  and  ultimately  were  settled  in 
many  portions  of  Asia  and  Africa. 

If  we  admit  that  Noah's  curse  is  meant  for  the 
descendants  of  Canaan,  and  they  are  the  negroes, 
what  is  the  logical  consequence  ?  It  implies  that  the 
negroes  are  servants  to  their  "brethren."  Are  the 
southern  slaveholders  "  brethren "  to  the  slaves  ? 
Southern  slaveholders  generally  consider  their  slaves 
an  inferior  race,  scarcely  human.  They  would  con- 
sider it  an  insult  to  be  told  that  they  hold  their 
"  brethren  "  in  slavery.  Their  sympathizers  at  the 
North  do  not  hold  that  "  the  niggers  "  are  brothers  to 
their  masters,  and  yet  they  use  this  "  cursed-be-Ca- 
naan  "  argument  as  though  it  made  an  end  of  the 
controversy.  Let  slaveholders  have  the  argument 


ITS  TRIAL   AND   ITS   TRIUMPH.  149 

for  all  it  is  worth  if  they  will,  but  we  will  hold  them 
to  the  concession  which  their  employment  of  it  neces- 
sarily implies — that  they  hold  their  "  brethren  "  in 
cruel  bondage.  In  whatever  light  this  famous  pas- 
sage is  viewed,  it  contains  no  warrant  for  negro 
slavery. 

It  is  often  asserted  that  the  natural  condition  of 
the  negro  is  that  of  slavery.  He  is  ignorant  and 
degraded,  incapable  of  self-government,  and  the  like. 
If  ignorance  and  degradation,  and  a  consequent  ina- 
bility for  self-government,  are  reasons  which  justify 
the  enslavement  of  one  people,  why  do  not  the  same 
reasons  justify  the  reduction  to  slavery  of  all  other 
people  who  are  in  the  same  condition  ?  A  strong 
people  has  no  more  right  to  enslave  a  weak  people 
than  a  strong  individual  has  a  right  to  exact  the 
sweat  and  toil  of  him  who  is  weaker  because  he  may 
be  able  to  enforce  it.  Slavery  is  not  the  natural  con- 
dition of  any  human  being.  No  one  loses  his  rights 
because  he  is  weak  or  ignorant.  The  weak  and  the 
ignorant  are  entitled  to  charity  instead  of  oppression 
at  the  hands  of  those  who  are  their  superiors  in 
strength  and  wisdom. 

Jewish  servitude  is  employed  to  prove  the  right  of 
slavery. 

The  law  of  servitude  is  found  in  the  twenty-fifth 
chapter  of  Leviticus.  There  is  a  distinction  made  in 
the  law  between  the  Israelite  and  the  stranger.  The 
Israelite  was  not  to  be  ruled  over  "  with  rigor,"  and  he 


150  OUR  COUNTRY: 

should  hav,e  his  freedom  at  the  end  of  six  years,  or  in 
"  the  year  of  jubilee."  There  is  nothing  in  this  tem- 
porary and  qualified  servitude  analogous  to  negro 
slavery.  This  will  be  admitted.  It. is,  lio we ver,  con- 
tended that  the  Israelites  were  authorized  to  hold  in 
perpetual  slavery  "  the  children  of  the  strangers  " — 
"  the  heathen,"  or  the  Gentile  nations. 

Let  it  be  observed  that  this  arrangement  does 
not  subject  one  heathen  nation ,.  any  more  than 
another  to  the  condition  of  slavery,  much  less  does  it 
say  anything  about  the  African  race ;  and  who  will 
say  that  all  who  are  not  Jews  are  by  this  law  sub- 
jected to  the  conditions  of  slavery  ? 

No  authority  is  here  given  to  sell  a  slave.  With- 
out the  right  to  sell,  slavery  loses  a  large  portion 
of  its  horrors.  The  separation  of  husbands  and  wives, 
of  parents  and  children,  which  is  so  common  an  inci- 
dent in  the  slave  states,  would  never  occur  after  the 
owner  had  come  into  possession  of  a  slave  under  the 
law. 

This  law  does  not  entail  slavery  upon  the  children 
of  the  slave.  This,  it  may  be  plead,  is  a  matter  of 
course,  and  is  to  be  presumed.  It  is  not  a  matter  of 
course.  The  law  cannot  be  made  to  embrace  any- 
thing which  it  does  not  express,  and  it  says  nothing 
about  the  condition  of  slavery  descending  to  the  pos- 
terity of  the  slave. 

The  servitude  authorized  in  the  law  in  question 
cannot  be  regarded  as  of  permanent  and  universal 


ITS  TEIAJj  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  151 

obligation.  Like  the  Jewish  law  of  divorce,  it 
was  temporary  and  local.  It  is  applicable  to  no 
other  people,  and  has  long  since  been  disused 
among  the  Jews  themselves.  Concubinage  was  once 
allowed,  but  is  now  condemned  by  all  Christian 
people. 

Again,  the  law  distinctly  recognizes  the  right  of  a 
slave  to  leave  his  master.  There  was  not  only  an  en- 
tire omission  of  law  for  the  reclamation  of  fugitive 
slaves,  but  there  was  a  direct  statute  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  fugitive.  "  Thou  shalt  not  deliver  un- 
to his  master  the  servant  which  is  escaped  from  his 
master  unto  thee :  he  shall  dwell  with  thee.  .  .  . 
Thou  shalt  not  oppress  him."  Dent,  xxiii,  15,  16. 

It  is  asserted  that  slavery  is  recognized  and  regu- 
lated by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  consequently 
we  are  to  consider  the  institution  as  sanctioned  in 
the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 

Let  it  be  observed  that  the  condition  of  slavery 
was  sanctioned  by  the  Roman  -law,  and  was  one  of 
the  usages  of  civil  society  in  the  apostolic  age.  As 
it  was  no  part  of  the  Saviour's  mission  to  revolution- 
ize governments,  or  to  interfere  with  man's  social 
relations,  he  did  hot  command  the  Christian  master 
to  give  civil  liberty  to  his  slaves,  but  required  him  so 
to  modify  his  treatment  of  them  that  they  would  be 
slaves  but  in  name.  That  great  law,  "  As  ye  would 
that  men  should  do  unto  you  do  ye  even  so  to  them," 
is  of  universal  obligation,  and  if  practiced  by  the 


152  OUR  COUNTRY : 

master  would  give  the  slave  his  liberty,  at  least  in 
fact,  if  not  in  form. 

St.  Paul  applies  this  principle  to  the  treatment  of 
slaves.  He  says  :  "  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants 
that  which  is  just  and  equal ;  knowing  that  ye  also 
have  a  Master  in  heaven^'  ~Col.  iv,  1.  Whatever 
glosses  may  have  been  put  upon  this  passage,  I  am  not 
able  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  apostle  meant  by 
"  just  and  equal "  an  equivalent  for  their  services. 
"What  is  just  and  equal  in  one  case  is  just  and  equal 
in  another.  Some  of  the  commentators  seem  to 
think  that  the  apostle  refers  to  food,  clothing,  and 
physic — what  the  Roman  law  allowed  a  slave.  To 
me  it  seems  obvious  that  he  meant  more.  It  seems 
to  bring  down  to  nothing  the  scope  of  a  grave  Chris- 
tian precept  to  make  it  mean  mere  heathen  honesty. 
The  mind  of  the  apostle  certainly  contemplated  a 
higher  rule  of  duty  than  that  which  Roman  society 
recognized,  embracing  the  new  relations  of  the  par- 
ties established  by  the  new  Christian  life.  The  ad- 
dition of  the  word  equal  after  just  gives  double  force 
to  the  duty  required,  and  would  seem  to  forbid  the 
idea  that  all  that  is  intended  is  a  mere  coming  up  to 
the  standard  established  by  the  custom  of  the  country. 
The  apostle  rather  recognizes  a  common  meed  of  just- 
ice and  equity  which  applies  to  all,  and  consists  in 
an  application  of  our  Saviour's  golden  rule.  If  the 
man  converted  to  Christianity  finds  himself  a  mas- 
ter in  possession  of  slaves,  he  is  thenceforth  to  treat 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  153 

the  persons  who,  in  law,  hold  the  relation  of  slaves 
to  him  with  the  justice  to  which  men  are  entitled, 
and  this  done,  their  bondage  is  merely  nominal. 

There  is  another  precept  which  the  apostle  gives  to 
"  masters"  which  must  greatly  modify  the  system  of 
slavery  and  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slave. 
"  Forbearing  threatening."  (Eph.  vi,  9.)  The  word 
dvievres,  rendered  forbearing,  I  believe  with  Dr.  Rob- 
inson signifies,  in  this  place,  "  to  leave  off,  to  cease 
from"  The  Christian  master  is  not  to  threaten  his 
servants.  'If  not  to  threaten  them,  we  may  conclude, 
d  fortiori,  that  he  is  not  to  use  the  lash.  If  harsh  and 
threatening  language  is  prohibited,  certainly  the  se- 
verer discipline  of  blows  is  also  forbidden.  Forced 
service  without  physical  punishment  or  threats  would 
be  an  anomaly,  and  slavery  without  either  would 
bear  no  resemblance  to  American  slavery. 

The  various  places  in  the  Epistles  in  which  the 
servant  is  exhorted  to  obedience,  and  to  render  due 
reverence  to  his  master,  have  no  bearing  whatever  upon 
the  question  of  the  right  of  slavery.  St.  Paul  uc- 
quires  subjection  to  the  civil  authorities,  but  certainly 
cannot  be  supposed  in  this  to  sanction  the  despotic 
government  of  Kero  and  other  tyrants.  To  require 
obedience  to  an  unjust  government  is  not  to  be  un- 
derstood as  a  sanction  of  its  injustice. 

In  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  we  may  be  instructed 
as  well  by  what  is  not  found  there  as  by  what  is. 
Now  let  it  be  observed  that  the  traffic  in  slaves  is  a 


154:  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

* 

part  of  the  system  of  American  slavery.  In  all  tlie 
slave  states  the  two  things  have  always  gond  together. 
Pious  men  have  had  some  conscience  upon  the  subject 
of  breaking  up  families,  and  trading  in  slaves  for 
merely  mercenary  purposes  ;  but  slaveholders  in  gen- 
eral, and  many  professors  of  religion  among  them, 
have  not  been  so  considerate.  With  them  slaves  have 
been  a  commodity  to  be  disposed  of  merely  for  the 
benefit  of  the  owner.  My  position  is  that  buying  and 
selling  slaves  is  a  part  of  the  system  of  slavery  as  it 
exists  in  this  country.  It  happens  to  be  the  fact, 
however,  that  not  a  word  is  said  by  the  apostle  upon 
the  'subject  of  the  traffic  in  slaves.  There  are  no  di- 
rections given  as  to  how  slaves  may  be  bought  and 
sold  in  a  Christian  manner.  This  is  one  of  the 
things  not  found  in  the  New  Testament,  but  which 
would  most  certainly  have  been  found  there*  if  the 
traffic  had  been  regarded  as  a  legitimate  Christian 
business. 

What  we  have  in  the  writings  of  Paul  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  condition  of  servitude  may  well  be  consid- 
ered as  a  reproof  to  those  ultraists  who  consider  slav- 
ery as  sin  per  se,  and  who  allow  no  circumstances  to 
be  taken  into  the  account  as  modifications  of  the  legal 
relations  of  master  and  slave,  while  it  gives  no  sort  of 
sanction  to  the  system  of  slavery.  All  we  have  in 
the  New  Testament  upon  the  subject  is  evidently  de- 
signed to  extract  the  evils  from  the  system  and  to 
protect  the  slave.  Under  the  influence  of  the  salutary 


ITS  TEIAL  AXD   ITS  TRIUMPH.  155 

teachings  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  the  system  of 
servitude  gradually  lost  its  malignity,  and  finally 
only  existed  in  the  Church  in  name.* 

The  acts  of  the  councils  of  the  Church  called  ecu- 
menical, for  several  centuries,  on  the  subject  of  slav- 
ery, in  nearly  every  instance  were  for  the  special 
benefit  of  the  slave.  No  rule  of  discipline  is  found 
in  the  New  Testament,  no  canon  of  any  general 
council  excommunicating  a  slaveholder,  or  requiring 
unconditional  emancipation.  One  of  the  most  popu- 
lar American  writers  against  slavery  says  that  it  is 
evklent  that  the  design  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  was 
to  eradicate  the  evils  from  the  system  of  slavery,  and 
leave  the  framework  to  fall  to  pieces  of  itself,  f 

I  conclude  this  discourse  with  objections  to  the 
system  of  slavery. 

The  system  of  human  bondage,  however  modified, 
is  inseparably  connected  with  the  slave-trade. 

The  domestic  slave-trade,  although  much  less  offens- 
ive to  humanity  than  the  importation  of  slaves  from 
Africa,  is  fraught  with  innumerable  evils.  Southern 
slave-owners,  as  a  general  thing,  have  ever  been  im- 
plicated in  the  traffic.  Members  of  all  the  Churches 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  buying  and  selling  "  the 
bodies  and  the  souls  of  men."  Individual  instances 

*  The  reader  will  find  the  biblical  argument  pro  and  con  in  Dr.  Van 
Dyke's  fast-day  sermon,  and  Prof.  Tayler  Lewis's  reply.  See  Fast-Day 
Sermon ;  or,  The  Pulpit  and  the  State  of  the  Country. 

t  Key  to  Uncle  Toti.'s  Cabin. 


156  OUR  COUNTRY: 

have  occurred  wliicli  may  admit  of  some  palliation ; 
few  of  these,  however,  can  be  justified  by  the  Golden 
Rule.  In  general  the  purchase  or  sale  of  slaves  is 
stimulated  by  mercenary  motives.  In  cases  of  slave- 
holding  which  admit  of  the  most  favorable  construc- 
tion, such  as  possession  by  inheritance,  or  holding 
them  in  order  to  keep  families  together,  the  inci- 
dents of  the  system  attach  to  the  slave.  "When  the 
owner  dies,  if  his  estate  is  solvent,  his  slaves  are 
divided  among  his  heirs  at  law.  If  he  dies  in- 
solvent, his  slaves  are  Bold  at  auction  to  the  highest 
bidder,  with  his  other  effects,  for  the  benefit  of -his 
creditors. 

The  owner  may  treat  his  slaves  with  humanity  and 
Christian  kindness ;  but  every  hour  he  is  liable  to 
death,  and  that  event  will  change  the  circumstances 
of  his  slaves,  and  may  transfer  them  to  cruel  masters, 
and  separate  husbands  and  wives  and  parents  and 
children  for  life.  These  consequences  necessarily  ad- 
here to  the  fact  of  regarding  slaves  as  property. 

Admitting  all  that  may  be  pleaded  in -behalf  of  hu- 
mane and  Christian  masters,  and  it  must  be  confessed 
there  have  always  been  many  of  these,  the  general 
fact  is  that  in  all  the  slave  states  men,  women, 
and  children  have  been  exposed  for  sale  like  cattle 
in  the  market.  The  ancient  Tyrians  and  the  old 
Romans  "  traded  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men," 
irrespective  of  nationality  or  caste ;  but  it  has  been 
reserved  for  professed  Christians  to  reduce  an  innu- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  157 

merable  class  of  human  beings  to  mere  chattels,  and 
to  treat  them  as  merchandise. 

There  is  a  more  aggravated  view  which  justice 
compels  us  to  take  of  the  slave-trade  and  of  its  rela- 
tions to  African  slavery.  The  enslavement  of  the 
African  race  originated  in  stealing  the  poor  Africans 
from  their  quiet  homes  and  barbarously  transporting 
them  to  foreign  countries  and  selling  them  for  slaves. 
At  first  the  people  found  along  the  coast  were  kid- 
napped and  carried  off.  After  a  while,  to  meet  the 
demands  of  the  market,  the  nearer  tribes  were  in- 
duced to  make  war  upon  those  more  remote,  take 
all  the  prisoners  possible,  and  sell  them  to  the  slav- 
ers. This  system  occasioned  an  immense  loss  of  life 
at  the  outset.  A  large  per  centage  of  those  who 
were  shipped  died  on  the  passage  from  a  want  of 
food,  water,  and  air,  while  the  remainder  were  sold 
into  hopeless  bondage. 

That  we  may  have  something  like  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  terrible  proportions  of  the  African  slave-trade,  a 
few  statistics  will  be  in  point.  Up  to  1787  ten  millions 
of  the  African  race  had  been  sacrificed  to  this  Moloch 
of  professedly  Christian  nations,  the  slave-trade. 
"In  1768  the  number  of  slaves  taken  from  their 
homes  amounted  to  104,100.  In  1786,  100,000.  In 
1807,  the  last  year  of  the  English  slave-trade,  it  was 
shown  by  authentic  documents,  produced  by  the  gov- 
ernment, that  from  1792  upward  of  3,500,000  Afri- 
cans had  been  torn  from  their  country,  and  had  either 


158  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

miserably  perished  on  the  passage,  or  been  sold  in 
the  West  Indies."  * 

I  cannot  now  pursue  this  subject  and  give  the 
statistics  of  the  trade  in  Virginia  and  other  slave 
states,  during  the  progress  of  which  the  value  of  a 
slave  increased  from  $25  to  $1,500.  The  foreign 
slave-trade  was  prohibited  by  act  of  Congress  in 
1789,  to  take  effect  in  1808.f 

It  is  quite  enough  for  one  of  humane,  not  to  say 
Christian,  feelings  to  know  that  the  'enslavement  of 
the  African  race  originated  in  the  nefarious  slave- 
trade,  to  beget  in  his  soul  an  abhorrence  of  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery  as  it  has  been  practiced  in  the  southern 
states.  Those  who  brought  the  poor  Africans  from 
their  peaceful  haunts  were  "  man-steal ers,"  and  those 
who  bought  them  were  parties  to  their  enormous 
guilt.  It  was  the  market  made  for  slaves  in  America 
that  stimulated  the  trade,  and  that  furnished  the  oc- 
casion for  all  the  measures  of  barbarous  cruelty  which 
were  incident  to  the  slave-trade.  If  a  man  cannot 
purchase  stolen  goods,  knowing  them  to  be  such,' 
without  involving  himself  in  the  guilt  of  the  theft, 
how  could  the  planter  purchase  negroes  stolen  from 
Africa,  knowing  them  to  have  been  stolen  and  forci- 
bly brought  away  from  their  own  country,  without 
partaking  of  the  guilt  of  man-stealing. 


*  The  World's  Progress:  Slave-trade. 

t  For  a  glimpse  at  the  horrors  of  the  slave-trade,  see  Mr.  Wesley's 
Thoughts  on  Slavery. 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  159 

The  African  slave-trade  has  been  proscribed  by  all 
civilized  nations ;  but  still-  so  vital  is  it  to  the  system 
of  African  slavery  that,  for  several  years,  southern 
politicians  have  openly  agitated  the  policy  of  reviving 
it  in  the  southern  states.  Southern  editors  talked  of 
it  as  a  right,  and  advocated  the  idea  of  demanding  of 
Congress  the  repeal  of  the  act  of -that  body  proscrib- 
ing it.  The  measure  would  possibly  have  been  pressed 
but  for  the  experiment  of  secession,  by  which  the 
rebel  states  thought  to  secure  the  renewal  of  the 
slave-trade  with  other  invaluable  blessings. 

Now  who  can  consider  the  relations  which  exist 
between  the  system  of  slavery  and  the  slave-trade, 
both  domestic  and  foreign,  without  an  utter  horror 
of  that  system  ?  That  slavery  originated  in  the  slave- 
trade  none  will  deny ;  and  that  it  is  kept  in  being  by 
the  same  cause  is  equally  indisputable.  The  effect 
of  such  a  cause  can  but  be  bad.  When  I  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  is  morally  right  to  desolate  a 
large  portion  of  a  continent,  to  sacrifice  the  lives 
of  millions  of  human  beings,  in  order  to  enslave 
millions  more,  I  may  conclude  that  African  slavery 
is  right. 

The  next  objection  which  I  bring  against  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  is  its  cruel  injustice  to  the  slave. 

"  He  finds  his  fellow  guilty  of  a  skin 
Not  colored  like  his  own ;  and  having  power 
T'  enforce  the  wrong,  for  such  a  worthy  canso 
Dooms  and  devotes  him  as  his  lawful  prey, 
And,  worse  than  all,  and  most  to  be  deplored 


160  OUR  COUNTEY: 

As  Imman  nature's  broadest,,  foulest  blot, 
Chains  Mm,  and  tasks  him,  and  exacts  his  sweat 
With  stripes,  that  Mercy  with  a  bleeding  heart 
Weeps,  when  she  sees  inflicted  on  a  beast." 

COWPER. 

If  it  would  be  injustice  to  deprive  a  man  of  one  of 
his  limbs,  it  would  be  a  greater  act  of  injustice  to 
deprive  him  of  all  his  limbs,  and  a  greater  act  of 
injustice  still  to  take  possession  of  his  whole  body, 
but  greatest  of  all  to  take  possession  of  his  mind,  of 
his  soul,  of  his  immortality.  What  has  the  slave  left 
to  himself  ?  He  can  think,  he  can  pray ;  but  he  can- 
not appropriate  his  thoughts  to  his  own  advantage, 
he  cannot  pray  audibly ;  he  cannot  lift  up  his  voice  in 
prayer  without  the  consent  of  his  master ;  he  can 
attend  no  social  gathering  for  religious  purposes 
without  his  master's  leave,  and  under  the  slave  laws 
he  is  not  allowed  to  meet  an  assembly  of  his  own 
class  without  the  presence  of  some  white  person  ap- 
pointed or  authorized  by  his  owner.  The  whole  life, 
body,  and  soul  is  to  be  used  for  the  advantage  of  the 
master,  and  is  subject  to  his  will  or  caprice.  Can  a 
slave  fulfill  the  conditions  of  slavery  and  remain  a 
man  ?  Does  not  slavery  degrade  him  from  the  dig- 
nity of  human  nature  ?  Can  it  be  otherwise  than 
that^he  should  be  imbruted — should  come  as  near  to 
the  level  of  a  beast  of  burden  as  it  is  possible  for  a 
human  being  to  be  ?  If  he  is  not  a  mere  animal,  or  a 
tool,  it  is  owing  to  the  resistance  of  natural  laws  or 
moral  forces  which  are  in  stern  hostility  against  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  161 

necessary  tendency  of  the  condition  of  slavery ;  and 
so  no  thanks  are  due  to  the  slave  system  if  there  is  left 
in  the  slave  a  particle  of  the  intelligence  or  the  mo- 
rality of  manhood.  If  God's  image  is  not  spunged 
clean  from  the  soul  it  is  not  because  of  any  conserva- 
tive power  in  slavery  itself. 

Now  what  more  need  be  said  to  prove  that  slavery 
is  the  greatest  crime  that  can  be  committed  against 
humanity  ?  What  act  of  injustice  can  be  imagined 
so  flagrant,  so  heaven-daring,  as  making  a  human 
being  a  slave,  or  holding  him  in  slavery  ?  Is  argument 
necessary  to  prove  that  it  is  unjust  to  take  from  a 
man  or  a  woman  his  or  her  individual  liberty,  social 
life,  and  hopes ;  to  annihilate  the  idea  of  family ; 
to  make  marriage  an  impossibility ;  to  make  man  a 
beast  of  burden,  and  woman  an  instrument  of  sensual 
indulgence,  and  of  producing  stock  for  the  market. 
Is  argument  necessary  here?  "Would  it  not  be  an 
insult  to  the  intelligence  of  this  age  to  attempt  to 
prove  by  formal  reasoning  that  slavery,  in  all  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  is  a  palpable  violation  of  the  rule 
which  requires  us  to  do  to  others  as  we  would  have 
them  do  to  us  ?  And  this,  with  a  Christian,  is  the  rule 
of  personal  justice  applicable  to  every  human  being. 

I  object  to  the  system  of  human  slavery,  that  its 
influence  upon  the  slaveholder  is  "  only  evil  contin- 
ually." 

Thomas  Jefferson,  a  Virginian  and  a  slaveholder, 

says,  "  There  must  be  an  unhappy  influence  on  the 

11 


1C2  OUR  COUNTRY: 

manners  of  our  people  produced  by  the  existence  of 
slavery  among  us.  The  whole  commerce  between 
master  and  slave  is  a  perpetual  exercise  of  the  most 
boisterous  passions,  the  most  UNREMITTING  DESPOTISM 
on  the  one  part  and  degrading  submission  on  the 
other.  Our  children  see  this,  and  learn  to  imitate  it. 
The  man  must  be  a  prodigy  who  can  retain  his  man- 
ners and  morals  undepraved  by  such  circumstances." 
Again  he  says  the  masters  are,  by  slavery,  "  trans- 
formed into  despots." 

Col.  George  Mason,  also  a  Virginian,  grandfather 
of  James  M.  Mason  of  secession  notoriety,  says  of  the 
slaves,  "  They  produce  the  most  pernicious  effect  on 
manners.  Every  master  of  slaves  is  born  a  petty 
tyrant." 

These  are  the  sentiments  of  the  southern  statesmen 
of  the  olden  time,  delivered  in  grave  debate,  without 
passion ;  and  who  better  know  than  they  the  influ- 
ence of  slavery  upon  both  master  and  slave?  If  there 
were  no  other  evidence  of  the  demoralizing  influence 
of  slavery  upon  the  master,  an  abundance  is  furnished 
in  the  present  rebellion.  The  most  fearful  demon- 
strations of  despotism  and  inhuman  cruelty  have 
marked  the  progress  of  the  rebellion.  The  officers 
of  the  southern  army  are  either  slaveholders  or  are 
under  the  dictation  of  slaveholders.  For  their  aban- 
doned tyranny  and  remorseless  cruelty,  reference 
only  need  be  had  to  their  hanging  hundreds  of  north- 
ern men,  without  judge  or  jury,  upon  mere  suspicion 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  163 

of  abolitionism,  both  before  and  since  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  war,  the  murders  at  Fort  Pil- 
low, and  the  treatment  of  Union  prisoners  in  Libby 
prison  in  Richmond,  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  and 
other  places.  These  specimens  of  savage  cruelty  and 
barbarism  truly  explain  the  influence  of  slavery  upon 
the  heart  of  the  master. 

It  is  scarcely  to  be  supposed  that  such  a  war  as  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  still  in  progress,  could  ever  have 
originated,  and  been  so  barbarously  conducted,  by  any 
except  a  community  of  slaveholders. 

The  arbitrary  rule  of  the  Confederate  authorities 
over  the  people  of  the  rebellious  states ;  their  merciless 
conscription  of  all  able-bodied  men  between  sixteen 
and  fifty-five;  their  denial  of  state  rights  to  the  states, 
a  principle  fundamental  in  southern  policy ;  repudia- 
ting their  securities ;  paying  no  respect  to  private 
property ;  neglecting  to  pay  their  soldiers,  and  rob- 
bing and  starving  the  masses  to  feed  and  sustain  the 
army,  and  committing  innumerable  other  acts  of  mis- 
government,  all  of  which  would  disgrace  the  most 
heartless  despotism  the  world  ever  saw,  is  further  in 
evidence  of  the  demoralizing  influence  of  slavery 
upon  the  hearts  and  the  social  character  of  slave- 
holders. 

I  object  to  slavery  that  it  is  antirepublican. 

If  a  republican  form  of  government  is  best  calcula- 
ted to  promote  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest  num- 
ber, whatever  conflicts  with  it  is  opposed  to  the 


164  OUE  COUNTRY: 

general  welfare,  and  ought  to  be  opposed  by  all  good 
citizens.  Slavery  is  the  assertion  of  the  one-man 
power,  and  the  maintenance  of  irresponsible  author- 
ity. It  admits  no  check  or  control  of  other  persons 
or  parties  in  the  exercise  of  authority  over  the  slave, 
or  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  him.  The  slave  can 
have  no  will ;  his  law  is  the  will  of  his  master.  The 
master,  from  his  very  childhood,  is  a  "  petty  tyrant," 
as  say  Col.  Mason  and  Mr.  Jeiferson  ;  and  how  is  he 
ever  to  become  reconciled  to  a  distribution  of  power 
as  in  a  popular  government  ?  The  participation  of 
the  masses  in  the  affairs  of  government  in  the  slave- 
holding  states  has  always  been  merely  nominal,  while 
in  small  influential  quarters  there  has  always  been 
a  hankering  for  monarchical  institutions.  The  facts 
accord  with  the  philosophy  of  the  spirit  of  slavehold- 
ing,  and  both  show  that  it  is  at  war  with  free  institu- 
tions. 

I  object  to  slavery  that  it  is  at  war  with  the  spirit 
of  the  age. 

The  spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  not  merely 
the  spirit  of  progress,  it  is  the  spirit  of  amelioration. 
The  march  of  Christian  civilization,  of  liberal  princi- 
ples, and  of  freedom,  keeps  pace  with  the  progress  of 
discovery  and  improvements  in  the  arts.  As  discov- 
eries in  the  sciences  lighten  the  burdens  of  labor,  so 
advancement  in  the  philosophy  of  government  and  of 
social  life  places  arbitrary  power  at  a  discount. 

The  doom  of  human  slavery  is  sealed  by  the  decis- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  165 

ion  of  the  civilized  world.  It  dies  hard.  Its  strug- 
gles for  existence  increase  in  desperation  as  it 
approaches  the  period  of  its  demise.  The  great 
American  rebellion  is  one  of  its  death  spasms.  In 
the  struggle  it  shows  great  tenacity  of  life,  and  its 
friends  and  supporters  clearly  indicate  the  depth  of 
their  unnatural  love  for  the  great  abomination  by 
their  willingness  to  sacrifice  the  nation's  honor,  if  not 
her  very  existence,  in  its  support.  Slavery  is  with 
them  so  precious  a  thing  that  the  unity,  the  peace, 
the  treasure,  and  the  most  precious  blood  of  a  great 
nation  are  not  too  much  to  be  put  into  the  balance 
against  negro  slavery.  The  fanaticism  of  the  south- 
ern fire-eaters  is  to  be  charged  to  the  spirit  of  slavery, 
a  spirit  which  struggles  to  stop  the  progress  of  socie- 
ty and  to  bring  the  world  to  a  dead  stand-still. 
"While  society  is  ascending  slavery  is  descending. 
While  the  world  is  improving  slavery  is  waxing 
worse.  While  humanitarian  institutions  are  multi- 
plying and  accumulating  power  for  good,  and  shed- 
ding light  upon  the  dark  places  of  the  earth,  slavery 
is  blasting  every  green  thing  with  its  noxious  vapors, 
and  laboring  to  its  utmost  to  shut  out  the  light  of 
heaven  from  millions  of  God's  poor  children. 

Thanks  be  to  God!  the  power  of  the  institution  is 
broken,  the  day  of  deliverance  has  come.  The  proc- 
lamation of  President  Lincoln,  which  proclaimed 
freedom  to  all  the  slaves  within  the  rebellious  states, 
ushered  in  a  grand  jubilee.  One  half  of  the  four 


166  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

millions  of  African  slaves  in  the  United  States  by 
that  beneficent  measure  are  now  restored  to  the  dig- 
nity of  manhood.  The  remaining  two  millions,-,  with. 
God's  blessing  upon  the  Union  arms,  will  soon  shake 
off  their  shackles  and  walk  abroad  upon  the  face  of 
God's  earth  in  the  happy  consciousness  that,  under 
God,  they  own  themselves.  The  free  Republic  of 
America  has  been  groaning  under  the  burden  of 
slavery  since  she  began  to  be,  and,  although  she  was 
the  first  of  the  civilized  nations  which  abolished  the 
infamous  slave-trade,  slavery  itself  has  been  so  deep- 
ly rooted  in  some  of  the  states  of  the  Union  that  she 
has  been  long  in  abating  the  nuisance,  and  finally  it 
seems  likely  to  die  in  the  convulsions  of  a  great  slave- 
holders' rebellion. 

Last,  but  not  least,  I  object  to  slavery  that  it  is  op- 
posed to  the  spirit  of  Christianity. 

The  great  law  of  love,  of  doing  to  others  as  we 
would  have  them  do  to  us,  can  only  be  reconciled  to. 
exceptional  instances  of  slavery,  and  such  cases  would 
never  arise  if  slavery  were  wholly  abolished,  and  the 
slave-code  annulled.  "What  slave-owner  would  wish 
to  change  places  with  his  human  chattels  ?  If  not,  in 
holding  them  in  servitude  does  he  love  them  as  him- 
self? Does  he  do  by  them  as  he  would  be  done  by  ? 
The  condition  of  dependence  and  helplessness  of  the 
slaves  does  not  change  the  state  of  the  question,  for 
the  incapacity  of  large  numbers  of  these  poor  crea- 
tures for  self-support  is  the  crime  of  slavery  instead 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  167 

of  its  justification.  Slavery  has  kept  the  colored  race 
in  a  depressed  and  degraded  condition ;  and  it  is  bad 
logic  to  argue  that,  as  the  slaves  are  not  able  to  take 
care  of  themselves,  it  is  a  Christian  charity  to  keep 
them  in  slavery,  that  they  may  be  taken  care  of  by 
their  masters.  Nothing  is  more  certain  in  the  history 
of  civilization  than  that  if  an  enslaved  race  be  invested 
with  liberty,  they  will  very  soon  take  care  of  them- 
selves. 

The  principles  of  Christianity  settle  the  ques- 
tion of  the  unity  and  equality  of  the  human  race. 
"  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men 
for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  In  har- 
mony with  this  divine  truth  is  the  great  truth  as- 
serted in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  all 
men  are  created  free  and  equal.  What  right,  then, 
has  one  man  to  restrain  the  liberties  of  another  man 
of  the 'same  blood,  who  has  as  fair  a  claim  to  liberty 
as  himself?  Christianity  enforces  justice  and  broth- 
erly kindness,  and  in  no  case  furnishes  an  excuse, 
much  less  a  justification,  for  exacting  the  toil  "and 
sweat  of  a  fellow-creature  without  compensation  and 
without  his  consent.  That  the  strong  should  oppress 
the  weak  is  not  tolerated  by  the  spirit  and  maxims 
of  the  Gospel ;  and  that  a  man  should  buy  and  sell 
his  brother  man  as  he  would  buy  and  sell  an  ox  is  a 
thing  perfectly  abhorrent  to  all  the  principles  of  the 
New  Testament.  Slavery,  in  its  spirit  and  form,  is 
antichristian.  It  desecrates  the  image  of  God,  and 


168  OUR  COUNTRY: 

insults  heaven.     Tlie  devil  is  a  slaveholder,  and  why 
not  leave  him  alone  in  his  glory  ? 

I  would  not  have  a  slave  to  till  my  ground, 
To  carry  me,  to  fan  mo  while  I  sleep 
And  tremble  when  I  wake,  for  all  the  wealth 
That  Binews  bought  and  sold  have  ever  earned. 

COWPEB. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS   TRIUMPH.  169 


X. 


A  COMPROMISE  REJECTED. 

NOW  IT  CAME  TO  PASS,  WHEN  SANBALLAT,  AND  TOBIAH,  AND  GES11EM 

TUB, ARABIAN,  AND  THE  REST  OF  OUK  ENEMIES,  HEARD  THAT  I  HAD 

BUILDED  THE  WALL,  AND  THAT  THERE  WAS  NO  BREACH  LEFT 

THEREIN  ;    (THOUGH  AT  THAT  TIME  I  HAD  NOT  SET  UP  THE  DOORS 

UPON  THE  GATES;)  THAT  SANBALLAT  AND  GESHEM  SENT  UNTO  ME, 
SAYING,  COME,  LET  US  MEET  TOGETHER  IN  SOME  ONE  OF  THE  VIL- 
LAGES IN  THE  PLAIN  OF  ONO.  BUT  THEY  THOUGHT  TO  DO  ME  MIS- 
CHIEF. AND  I  SENT  MESSENGERS  UNTO  THEM,  SAYING,  I  AM  DOING 
A  GREAT  WORK,  SO  THAT  I  CANNOT  COME  DOWN :  WHY  SHOULD  THE 
WORK  CEASE,  WHILST  I  LEAVE  IT,  AND  COME  DOWN  TO  YOU?  YET 
THEY  SENT  UNTO  ME  FOUR  TIMES  AFTER  THIS  SORT;  AND  I  ANSWER- 
ED THEM  AFTER  THE  SAME  MANNER. — Neh.  vi,  1-4. 

NATIONS  have  their  rise  and  their  decline.  Some- 
times they  are  convulsed  and  sustain  great  disasters, 
from  which  they  recover  and  run  a  new  race  of  pros- 
perity. The  holy  land  had  been  desolated  by  the 
captivity  of  its  people  in  Babylon  for  seventy  years. 
Conquering  legions  had  profaned  the  soil  which  had 
been  consecrated  by  miracles,  had  borne  a  long  line 
of  mighty  kings,  had  been  the  subject  of  prophecies, 
and  celebrated  in  sacred  song.  Holy  memories  were 
connected  with  every  foot  of  the  ground  now  dese- 
crated and  contemned.  A  vagabond  population 
roamed  over  the  sacred  mountains,  while  the  tombs 
of  the  kings  and  the  temple  of  Gad  were  in  ruins. 
The  period  of  the  captivity  had  expired  and  the 


170  OUK  COUNTRY: 

• 

time  for  reconstruction  had  come.  Nehemiah,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  royal  household  at  Shushan, 
was  commissioned  by  royal  proclamation  to  conduct 
a  body  of  captive  Jews  to  the  site  of  the  ancient  city 
of  Jerusalem,  to  rebuild  the  walls  and  re-establish 
the  old  institutions.  Nehemiah  was  the  president  of 
the  country,  and  was  a  man  of  great  executive  ability. 
He  had  great  courage,  great  prudence,  and  a  pro- 
found knowledge  of  human  nature ;  and  last,  but  not 
least,  he  was  a  man  of  much  prayer  and  great  faith 
in  God.  Such  a  man  with  such  a  commission,  and 
such  an  object,  it  might  have  been  supposed,  would 
have  enjoyed  universal  favor,  and  been  crowned  with 
uninterrupted  success. 

There  was  a  mongrel  mass  of  people  scattered 
through  the  country  that  had  been  accustomed  to 
have  their  own  way,  and  they  did  not  like  the  puri- 
tan rule  of  the  new  governor.  They  were  Arabians, 
Ammonites,  and  Ashdodites.  They  had  leaders, 
three  of  whom  are  named  Sanballat,  Tobiah,  and 
Geshem.  These  leaders,  and  those  who  were  their 
tools,  we  shall  call  secessionists.  They  were  the  open 
enemies  of  President  Nehemiah  and  his  administra- 
tion, and  they  armed  themselves  and  came  up  against 
him  to  give  him  battle.  The  president  armed  his 
men,  however,  and  offered  up  prayer,  for  he  believed 
both  in  fighting  and  in  prayer. 

The  secessionists"*finding  it  impossible  to  carry  the 
president's  works  by  open  assault,  had  recourse  to 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  171 

other  expedients.  They  now  affected  to  treat  him 
and  his  party  with  great  contempt.  They  called 
them  feeble  Jews,  and  said  that  if  a  fox  should  go 
up,  he  would  break  down  their  stone  walls.  The 
men  were  nothing  but  "greasy  mechanics"  and 
"  mudsills."  They  are  a  pack  of  fanatics  in  religion, 
are  unskilled  in  war,  and  are  mere  bunglers  in  build- 
ing walls  and  towers,  and  one  of  our  chivalry  will 
chase  five  of  them  out  of  the  country.  Just  look  at 
them,. praying  and  working  and  fighting.  Now,  as 
for  ourselves,  we  don't  pray  much ;  we  curse  and 
swear  and  never  work,  but  we  fight ;  we  are  brave 
warriors,  and  we  will  give  them  the  steel,  a  little 
taste  of  which  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  make  them 
flee. 

All  these  measures  failing,  the  secession  leaders 
then  had  recourse  to  another  expedient.  They  now 
invite  an  armistice.  They  propose  to  President  N"e- 
hemiah  a  friendly  meeting  "  in  some  one  of  the  vil- 
lages in  the  plain  of  Ono."  Lay  down  your  weapons, 
say  they,  stop  your  work,  and  meet  us  on  neutral 
ground,  and  let  us  see  if  our  differences  cannot  be 
compromised.  Come  on  now,  we  are  brethren,  why 
inclose  your  sacred  city  by  a  strong  wall  ?  "Why 
treat  us  as  sinners  above  all  other  men  ?  Why  con- 
tinue this  "  fratricidal  war  ?"  President  Nehemiah 
said  to  himself,  "  they  think  to  do  ine  mischief,"  and 
he  gave  them  that  noble  answeF  which  has  been  the 
admiration  of  all  succeeding  ages.  "  I  am  doing  a 


172  OUR  COUNTRY: 

great  work,  so  that  I  cannot  come  down  :  why  should 
the  work  cease  while  I  leave  it  and  come  down  to 
you?"  They  were  not  satisfied  until  they  had  "sent 
four  times  after  this  sort,"  while  the  president  "  an- 
swered them  after  the  same  manner."  A  most  ob- 
stinate man  was  President  Neheiniah,  and  quite 
stereotyped  in  his  phraseology  withal. 

So  ended  the  question  of  a  compromise.  The 
proposition  was  exceedingly  plausible,  and  "the 
answer  was  no  doubt  talked  of  by  the  secessionists 
and  their  sympathizers  as  captious  and  belligerent. 
The  old  president  was  considered  pertinacious  and 
uncharitable.  The  question  of  the  armistice  was  set- 
tled, but  the  untiring  secessionists  were  not  content 
to  leave  the  president  to  go  on  with  his  work  of 
reconstruction. 

The  next  measure  was  to  accuse  the  president  with 
a  design  to  set  up  a  kingdom  of  his  own  and  to  rebel 
against  the  legitimate  government.  Lies  are  the 
usual  resort  of  interested  politicians.  This  was  a 
most  insulting  falsehood  and  slander,  but  was  of  a 
piece  with  all  the  other  proceedings. 

The  last  effort  was  to  send  an  emissary  to  intimi- 
date him,  who  advised  him  to  shut  himself  up  in  the 
temple,  and  thus  to  save  his  life  at  the  expense  of  his 
honor.  His  answer  was :  "  Should  such  a  man  as  I 
flee  ?  And  who  is  there,  that,  being  as  I  am,  would 
go  into  the  temple  to  save  his  life  ?  I  will  not  go 
in."  The  president  found  that  the  messenger  was  a 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  173 

« 

hired  spy,  employed  by  the  secession  leaders  to 
frighten  him  out  of  his  propriety,  and  thus  destroy 
his  influence. 

Nehemiah  was  a  man  of  a  thousand.  Neither 
force  nor  fraud,  threats  nor  flattery,  could  jostle  him 
a  hair's  breadth.  "With  him  duty  was  imperative ; 
he  could  sacrifice  his  safety  and  his  life,  but  he  could 
not  violate  his  conscience.  The  secession  conspira- 
tors failed  at  every  point,  and  were  obliged  to  confess 
themselves  totally  vanquished. 

In  spite  of  the  policy  and  power  of  the  opposition, 
the  work  of  reconstruction  proceeded,  and  the  old 
institutions  were  reared  up ;  the  old  patriotism  was 
revived,  and  prosperity  gradually  returned. 

AYe  have  seen  the  main  points  of  a  most  extraor- 
dinary case,  one  which  is  exceedingly  suggestive,  and 
which  we  shall  now  proceed  to  apply  to  our  national 
aifairs. 

A  portion  of  the  country  has  been  desolated  by  the 
ravages  of  war,  not  waged  by  a  foreign  foe,  but  by  a 
portion  of  the  people  against  the  legitimate  govern- 
ment— a  rebellion  instituted  and  carried  on  for  am- 
bitious ends,  and  without  the  least  provocation.  The 
simple  point  to  which  I  invite  attention  now  is  that 
whole  states  have  been  overrun  and  ravaged  by  war. 
Agriculture  and  commerce  have  been  destroyed, 
populous  towns  and  cities  desolated,  and  fertile  fields 
rendered  utterly  barren. 

The  legitimate  government  has  been  engaged  for 


OUK  COUNTRY  : 

more  than  three  years  in  the  arduous  work  of  restor- 
ing the  majesty  of  the  laws,  the  civil  institutions  of 
the  country,  and  the  peace  and  good  order  of  society. 
As  the  rebellion,  which  is  armed  and  aggressive,  has 
been  the  source  of  all  this  evil,  it  was  to  be  put  down 
by  force  before  order  could  be  restored,  or  the  shattered 
institutions  of  the  rebellious  states  could  be  repaired  and 
re-established.  The  first  measure  of  the  government 
was  to  reclaim  the  rebellious  states.  The  rebellion 
had  assumed  the  form  and  character  of  a  great  mili- 
tary despotism,  and  standing  in  the  way  of  the  benef- 
icent objects  of  the  government,  it  must  first  be  put 
down.  The  war  is  a  war  for  civilization,  for  law  and 
order,  for  constitutional  liberty,  for  the  defense  and 
preservation  of  the  nation's  life. 

The  rebels  have  done  all  they  could  to  isolate 
themselves  from  the  nation's  heart,  and  to  assume 
the  attitude  of  foreigners  and  enemies.  They  ignore 
their  national  relations,  and  turn  their  back  upon  the 
old  flag.  They  become  the  Arabians,  the  Ammon- 
ites, and  Ashdodites,  waging  every  sort  of  war 
against  good  old  Nehemiah,  who  is  hard  at  work, 
day  and  night,  at  the  broken  walls  of  the  glorious 
old  union. 

Their  leaders  are  cunning  men,  and  as  wicked  as 
they  are  cunning.  Sanballat  of  Richmond,  Tdbiah 
of  New  York,  and  Geshem  of  Ohio  have  enrolled  and 
armed  their  forces,  and  by  open  assaults,  flank  move- 
ments, and  profound  strategy  have  sought  to  defeat 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.    -  175 

the  good  work  of  restoration.  "  Cursed  be  their  an- 
ger, for  it  was  fierce,  and  their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel." 
These  three  are  great  leaders,  and  their  effort  is  to 
make  all  the  Arabians,  Ammonites,  and  Ashdodites 
affect  to  believe  that  the  wall  can  never  be  rebuilt, 
and  that  it  will  be  much  better  to  leave  it  as  it  is, 
then  their  hordes  can  overrun  the  sacred  soil  without 
hinderance.  Every  people,  they  say,  have  a  right  to 
be  independent,  and  to  govern  themselves.  The 
government  of  the  old  puritanic  hypocrite  who  fasts 
and  prays  so  much  is  a  downright  usurpation,  and, 
to  the  chivalry,  it  is  insufferable.  We  want  Saribal- 
lat  for  our  king  ;  we  do  not  believe  in  a  government 
by  majorities,  a  thing  which  our  great  man  of  Rich- 
mond says  is  an  impossibility,  and  never  existed  in 
fact.  And  who  knows  better  how  the  people  have 
been  fooled  into  the  idea  of  self-government  than  the 
great  political  magician  who  now  leads  at  his  pleas- 
ure eight  millions  of  people ;  who  binds  them  in 
chains  of  adamant,  and  then  has  the  impudence  to 
tell  them  that  they  are  free  ?  Ah,  Sanballat  has  long 
known  how  to  manage  the  Ashdodites  of  the  South, 
and  the  Ammonites  and  the  Arabs  of  the  North. 
He  used  to  talk  of  the  sacredness  of  the  ballot-box 
and  the  government  by  constitutional  majorities  with 
the  eloquence  of  Mercurius,  but  now  that  he  has  got 
the  people  of  his  sublime  kingdom  under  his  feet,  he 
tells  them  plainly  that  they  never  were  anybody,  and 
the  boasted  theory  of  government  by  majorities  is  a 


176  OUR  COUNTRY: 

farce.     But  those  Ashdodites  especially  are  a.  most 
glib  set  of  talkers  and  deceivers. 

The  enemies  of  reform  and  reconstruction,  like  the 
enemies  of  Nehemiah  of  old,  resort  to  taunts  and 
gibes.  This  is  an  abolition  and  a  black  republican 
war,  a  nigger  war,  brought  on  by  a  pack  of  fanatics. 
The  Yankees  of  the  North  have  arrayed  themselves 
against  the  chivalry  of  the  South.  "  What  will  these 
feeble  Yankees  do  ?"  "Will  they  make  an  end  in  a 
day  ?  Do  they  think  to  conquer  the  South  with  their 
mercenary  hordes  ?  And  will  they  do  this  at  a  single 
blow  ?  They  are  an  ignoble  race,  wholly  unable  to 
cope  with  the  chivalry  of  the  South.  There  is  no 
nobility  in  northern  blood ;  the  men  are  "  greasy 
mechanics,"  and  the  women  "  factory  girls ;"  their 
ruling  idea  is  money-making.  If  they  fight  it  is  be- 
cause they  can  make  money  by  it.  We  Southerners 
are  from  the  "  Latin  races."  The  Yankees  are  from 
the  ignoble  Puritan  stock;  we  hate  them,  we  con- 
temn them,  we  will  never  be  united  with  them  in  the 
same  government  again.  Robert  Toombs,  the  very 
pink  of  the  Southern  chivalry,  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  there  were  two  reasons  why  the  South 
would  never  be  united  again  with  the  North :  one 
was  original  sin,  and  the  other  the  landing  of  the 
pilgrims  on  Plymouth  Rock.  I  say  nothing  of  the 
common  sense  of  this  statement,  but  introduce  it 
only  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  even  a  great 
southerner  can  talk  like  a  fool.  There  is  the  bitter- 


ITS  TKIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  177 

ness  of  gall  in  the  very  nonsense  and  affected  pleas- 
antries of  these  "  descendants  from  the  Latin  races." 

The  rebels  at  the  South  and  their  sympathizers  at 
the  North  laugh  at  the  reverses  of  our  arms,  and  de- 
preciate all  our  successes,  as  well  as  grieve  over  them. 
A  speaker  in  the  Chicago  Convention  said,  "  For 
over  three  years  Lincoln  has  been  calling  for  men  and 
they  have  been  given.  But  with  all  the  vast  armies 
placed  at  his  command  he  has  failed,  failed,  failed, 
failed  !  Such  a  failure  had  never  been  known :  such 
destruction  of  human  life  had  never  been  known  since 
the  destruction  of  Sennacherib  by  the  breath  of  the 
Almighty."  And  for  this  the  President  is  called  "  a 
felon,"  "  a  monster,"  is  charged  with  "  perjury  and 
larceny,"  and  the  army  is  called  "  his  slaughter-pen." 
From  sneers  and  gibes  these  Ammonites  and  Arabs 
proceed  to  vile  abuse,  and  from  overstrained  state- 
ments to  the  most  unblushing  falsehoods.  Hear  them 
shout  when  our  army  meets  with  reverses.  "  Aha," 
they  say,  "  so  would  we  have  it."  And  when  our 
brave  men  drive  the  enemy  before  them  and  scatter 
them  "  like  the  chaff  of  the  summer  threshing  floor," 
they  shake  the  head  and  curl  the  lip  and  express 
grave  doubts. 

Now  if  what  some  of  these  enemies  to  the  govern- 
ment say  be  true,  who  is  responsible  ?  If  the  govern- 
ment had  failed  to  put  down  the  rebellion  so  signally 
as  the  famous  Chicago  orator  asserts,  should  it  not 

have  the  advantage  of  the  extenuating  circumstances 

12 


178  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

that  a  powerful  party  of  sympathizers  with  the  South 
have  done  what  they  could  to  bring  about  this  very 
failure  ?  In  Congress  they  voted  against  supplies  in 
men  and  money  ;  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsyl- 
vania issued  an  injunction  to  prevent  the  draft  in  the 
state,  and  so  far  as  the  example  would  go  to  prevent 
it  also  in  other  states,  and  thus  to  cripple  the  army. 
But  for  this  party  of  sympathizers  at  the  North  one 
half  of  the  blood  which  was  spilled  might  have  been 
spared,  and  we  might  long  since  have  had  an  honor- 
able  peace.  A  beautiful  specimen  of  consistency  this 
for  the  men  who  have  done  their  utmost  to  protract 
the  war  by  weakening  the  hands  of  the  government, 
to  talk  about  the  war's  being  a  failure,  and  to  groan 
over  the  blood  that  has  been  shed. 

Then  they  endeavor  to  draw  the  government  into 
an  armistice,  with  the  view  to  offer  terms  of  peace 
to  the  rebels. 

In  their  efforts  for  an  armistice  the  Ashdodites.  the 
Ammonites,  and  the  Arabs  are  confederate  parties ; 
not  "  confederate  states,"  but  confederate  clans.  Old 
Sanballat  of  Richmond  keeps  behind  the  screen. 

He  says  that  "  amnesty  applies  to  criminals,  but  we 
have  committed  no  crime." 

What  he  proposes  to  demand  is  that  the  federal 
government  should  withdraw  its  armies  from  the  in- 
surgent states,  and  then  he  will  condescend  to  treat 
with  it  on  equal  terms.  There  is  no  doubt,  however, 
but  that  Tobiah  of  the  city  of  Gotham,  and  GcsJcem 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  179 

of  the  Buckeye  state,  are  under  the  instructions  of 
the  wily  Sanballat,  and  that  he  would  rejoice  greatly 
if  they  could  secure  an  armistice.  Witness  the  Ni- 
agara peace  measures.  The  President  was  invited  to 
an  interview  in  the  plain  of  Ono.  Ono  ?  he  demanded, 
and  answered  O  no !  I  wont !  albeit  I  will  listen  to 
and  respectfully  consider  anything  coming  to  me 
from  the  Confederate  government,  premising  that  no 
offer  of  peace  that  will  save  slavery  will  be  accepted. 
"  Insulting !"  answered  the  sham  legate  from  the 
South,  and  the  Niagara  peace  negotiations  ended. 
Still  there  is  much  talk  among  the  Ammonites  and 
Arabs  of  an  armistice,  and  peace  on  the  ground  of 
mutual  concessions.  Come  down  "  to  one  of  the 
villages  in  the  plain  of  Ono."  O  no,  answered  the 
pertinacious  old  Nehemiah.  "I  am  doing  a  great 
work  so  that  I  cannot  come  down ;  why  should  the 
work  cease  while  I  leave  it  and  come  down  to  you  ?" 
The  great  work  in  which  the  government  is  en- 
gaged is  that  of  subduing  the  rebellion  and  of  restor- 
ing government,  and  of  establishing  law  and  order  in 
the  southern  states.  The  grand  difficulty  in  leaving 
this  work  for  an  hour  is  that  the  reason  for  leaving  it 
at  all  would  be  a  reason  for  abandoning  it  finally. 
An  armistice  to  rebels  in  arms'?  "What  for?  To  re- 
ceive their  submission  ?  The  dogr  to  this  has  never 
been  closed.  No  armistice  is  necessary  to  secure  this 
end.  Is  it  then  to  treat  with  them  that  the  armistice 
is  urged  ?  What  would  this  be  but  to  give  up  all  that 


180  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

we  are  contending  for,  and  granting  all  that  the  reb- 
els claim  ?  The  very  idea  of  an  armistice  implies  one 
of  two  things :  either  that  the  rebels  have  rights,  as 
such,  to  be  considered  and  accorded,  or  that  the  gov- 
ernment is  unable  to  conquer  them,  neither  of  which 
can  be  concede'd  without  utter  ruin.  The  Ammon- 
ites and  Arabs,  in  a  grand  council  recently  held  at 
Chicago,  maintained  both  of  these  propositions,  and 
upon  them  built  their  peace  platform. 

In  the  Chicago  Convention  Captain  Bynders  said 
"  he  had  heard  one  of  the  speakers  state  that  the  peo- 
ple of  the  South  were  traitors,  which  were  very  harsh 
words,  as  the  people  of  the  South  were  as  brave  and 
chivalrous  a  people  as  ever  were  put  on  the  earth." 
Judge  Alexander  said,  "  "We  had  tried  the  bayonet  and 
had  failed."  So  according  to  Captain  Bynders  and 
Judge  Alexander  the  South  have  done  no  wrong,  and 
we  are  unable  to  subdue  them,'  and  therefore  we 
ought  to  have  an  armistice,  and  form  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  them.  In  furtherance  of  this  end  the 
convention  nominated  a  war  candidate  for  president. 
And  he  acted  upon  the  principle  asserted  by  old  sen- 
ator Benton,  that  "  platforms,  like  ipecac,  are  made 
to  be  swallowed  and  then  thrown  up  again."  He 
swallowed  the  whole,  then  threw  up  a  part  of  it ;  but 
it  seems  probable  wiU  be,  nevertheless  subservient, 
so  that  all  the  Ammonites  and  Arabs  will  give  him  a 
united  vote.  In  the  mean  time  old  Nehemiah  will  go 
on  with  his  work  until  his  commission  runs  out, 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  181 

when  it  is  hoped  by  many  of  the  good  people  who 
are  in  love  with  the  institutions  of  the  country  that 
he  may  be  commissioned  again. 

Since  this  wicked  and  barbarous  war  was  com- 
menced by  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  there 
has  never  been  a  time  in  which  an  armistice  on  the 
part  of  the  government  would  not  have  been  both 
foolish  and  false  to  the  interests  of  the  country ;  but 
the  impolicy,  cowardice,  and  wickedness  of  the  thing 
are  more  glaring  now  than  ever.  In  what  appears  to 
be  the  end  of  the  final  struggle,  when  victory  perches 
upon  our  banners  at  every  great  point  of  the  conflict, 
is  it  a  time  to  talk  of  an  armistice  and  peace  with  the 
rebels?  Sherman  has  just  ended  a  most  glorious 
campaign,  is  in  the  possession  of  Atlanta,  "  the  gate 
of  the  South."  Farragut  has  possession  of  the  forts 
which  defend  Mobile,  and  Sheridan  has  driven  Early 
out  of  the  Shenandoah.  "When  Lee's  army  before 
Richmond  receives  the  shock  of  a  general  battle, 
there  will  be  but  little  more  to  be  done  in  order  to 
conquer  a  permanent  peace. 

The  alacrity  with  which  men  have  volunteered  to 
augment  the  army  since  the  last  call  was  made  is  an 
evidence  of  the  disposition  of  the  people  to  fight  the 
rebellion  down.  The  rebel  sympathizers  have  been 
accustomed  for  the  last  few  months  to  tell  us  that 
enlistments  were  played  out,  and  that  the  people 
would  not  endure  another  draft.  The  statement  is 
falsified  by  facts.  The  army  never  was  reinforced 


182  OUK  COUNTRY: 

with  greater  facility  and  never  with  better  men  than 
at  the  present  time.  Our  army  is  more  numerous 
and  more  efficient  to-day  than  it  has  ever  been  since 
the  commencement  of  the  rebellion.  The  people 
say  that  this  slaveholders'  rebellion  shall  be  put 
clown,  and  if  it  is  not  put  down  it  is  evident  enough 
that  the  failure  must  be  attributed  to  the  weakness 
of  the  government,  and  not  to  the  want  of  patriotism 
in  the  people. 

The  supporters  of  the  peace  platform  are  quite 
zealous  for  the  interests  of  religion,  and  become  the 
admonitors  of  the  clergy.  They  put  on  pious  airs 
and  tell  us  that  our  holy  religion  is  a  religion  of 
peace,  and  hence  all  true  Christians  ought  to  use 
their  influence  in  favor  of  "  an  armistice,"  and 
"peace  on  any  terms."  A  ruffian  assails  you  in  a 
dark  alley  and  points  a  dirk  at  your  breast;  you 
parry  the  weapon  and  raise  your  cane  to  level  him 
to  the  ground,  but  he  interposes :  "  Hold,  my  friend, 
are  you  not  a  Christian  ?  Has  not  the  Saviour  told 
you  not  to  resist  evil  ?  The  religion  of  the  Saviour 
is  a  religion  of  peace."  "All  right,"  answers  the 
assailed  party ;  "  in  my  haste  I  parried  your  blow ;  I 
should  have  allowed  you  to  pierce  my  breast  and 
then  have  turned  around  and  invited  you  to  bury 
the  deadly  steel  in  my  back  also."  This  is  a  spec- 
imen of  the  peace  theology.  Let  it  be  recollected 
that  the  same  great  teacher  who  said  "  resist  not 
evil,"  said  upon  another  occasion,  "  He  that  hath  no 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  183 

sword  let  him  sell  his  garment  and  buy  one,"  hereby 
teaching  us  that  there  ware  occasions  upon  which  it 
is  lawful  to  take  the  sword.  And  if  there  ever  was 
such  an  occasion  the  present  wicked  rebellion  fur- 
nishes one. 

Christian  ministers  are  severely  censured  by  the 
peace  men  for  their  encouragement  of  the  war  to  put 
down  the  rebellion.  They  are  told  that  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  should  be  men  of  peace.  True,  but  some 
of  us  think  that  the  only. way  to  have  an  honorable 
and  a  Christian  peace  is  to  put  down  the  rebellion. 

The  last  day  of  thanksgiving  was  noticed  by  the 
Mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  who  took  occasion 
in  advance  to  admonish  the  clergy  of  tfye  city  to 
preach  on  that  occasion  in  favor  of  peace,  and  to 
pray  for  peace,  and  thus  to  keep  within  the  terms  of 
their  holy  commission.  I  suppose  the  clergy  pro- 
ceeded upon  the  presumption  that  they  understood 
their  own  business  as  well  as  Mayor  Gunther  did. 
Thank  God  the  pulpit  is  yet  free !  Some  suppose 
that  a  minister  has  no  business  to  say  one  word  in 
favor  of  the  government.  St.  Paul  did  not  think 
so.  To  enforce  obedience  to  the  civil  authorities  is 
a  part  of  the  duty  of  the  pulpit,  whatever  party  pol- 
iticians may  say.  They  may  try  to  badger  the  clergy 
into  their  notions  of  an  unconditional  peace,  but 
they  will  lose  their  labor. 

We  have  had  an  abundance  of  cant  from  poli- 
ticians of  a  certain  stamp  upon  "  political  preaching," 


184  OUR  COUNTRY: 

and  "the  clergy  entering  the  arena  of  politics." 
There  doubtless  is  a  line  of  propriety  which  governs 
this  subject  which  a  clergyman  should  not  cross,  yet 
there  are  multitudes  of  so-called  peace  men  who  do 
not  discern  where  this  line  is.  A  certain  preacher 
not  long  since  in  a  sermon  quoted  the  words  of  St. 
Paul,  in  the  13th  of  Romans,  "  Let  every  soul  be  sub- 
ject to  the  higher  powers,"  etc.,  when,  before  he  had 
made  a  remark,  one  of  our  sensitive  souls  took  him- 
self away  with -evident  indignation  at  hearing  politics 
introduced  into  the  pulpit.  With  him  the  language 
of  St.  Paul  was  downright  abolitionism.  Another 
illustration  will  show  how  little  of  conscience  there 
is  in  this  carping  about  "  clerical  politicians."  A 
noted  politician  was  accustomed  to  say  from  the 
stand,  "Let  the  clergy  attend  to  their  own  peculiar 
functions,  and  leave  politics  to  laymen."  But  in 
process  of  time  he  wanted  the  help  of  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic priest  in  a  canvass,  and  he  invited  the  good 
father  upon  the  stand  to  make  a  speech.  The  speech 
was  made  and  he  cheered  the  father  lustily.  This 
was  proof  positive  that  it  was  not  the  fact  of  clergy- 
men's entering  the  political  arena  that  so  horrified  the 
gentleman,  but  the  fact  that  they  are  not  on  his  side. 
I  find  that  clergymen  who  stand  upon  the  peace  plat- 
form are  very  acceptable  to  our  peace  politicians ; 
but,  thank  Providence,  there  are  not  many  of  them. 
Let  us  have  peace,  but  let  us  have  it  on  principlea 
which  will  give  it  unfailing  stability. 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  185 

A  part  of  the  plot  against  President  Eehemiah 
was  to  accuse,  him  of  a  treasonable  design  to  make 
himself  a  king.  The  same  slander  is  often  heard 
from  the  lips  of  the  Ammonites  and  Arabs  of 
our  times  against  our  modern  JSTehemiah.  It  has 
often  been  said  that  President  Lincoln  intends  to 
establish  a  despotism  in  the  country — ay,  that  he 
had  already  set  up  a  despotism.  In  the  Chicago 
Convention  it  was  said,  "  They  talk  of  a  rebellion  in 
the  South ;  but  a  greater  rebellion  has  been  in  prog- 
ress in  the  North."  The  same  charge  of  subverting 
constitutional  liberty  is  brought  against  the  adminis- 
tration in  the  debates  of  the  aforesaid  convention  in 
a  variety  of  forms. 

It  is  assumed  in  the  platform  adopted  by  that  con- 
vention, that  the  President  is  likely  to  interfere  with 
the  freedom  of  the  elections  through  the  military 
force.  To  all  these  shameful  slanders  the  President 
may  answer  as  did  Nehemiah  of  old :  "  There  are  no 
such  things  done  as  thou  sayest,  but  thou  feignest 
them  out  of  thine  own  heart."  It  is  astounding  to 
see  how  far  prejudice  and  party  zeal  will  go.  For 
party  ends  the  most  improbable  things,  and  even  im- 
possibilities, are  asserted  as  facts,  with  an  appearance 
of  sincerity  by  persons  Vho  on  other  subjects  are  gov- 
erned by  the  ordinary  principles  of  common  justice 
and  common  sense. 

Finally,  some  have  endeavored  to  frighten  good 
old  Kehemiah  by  threats  of  personal  violence.  They 


186  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

say  to  him,  "  Eemember  the  ides  of  March."  "  First 
ballots,  and  if  they  do  not  answer,  .then  bullets." 
"  You  had  better  abdicate  your  seat,  or  it  will  be 
pulled  out  from  under  you."  To  all  this  he  answers, 
"Shall  such  a  man  as  I  flee?"  No,  Nehemiah,  not 
yet.  It  will  be  time  enough  for  you  to  leave  the 
work  of  restoring  the  Union  when  the  people  so  de- 
cide by  their  votes.  Resting  on  the  strong  arm  of  the 
true-hearted  people,  and  the  protection  of  the  strong- 
er arm  of  God,  you  may  defy  the  malicious  acts  of 
all  traitors  and  rebels. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  187 

XL 

NO  NEUTRALITY. 

CURSE  YE  MEROZ,  SAID  THE  ANGEL  OF  THE  LORD,  CURSE  YE  BITTERLY 
THE  INHABITANTS  THEREOF ;  BECAUSE  THEY  CAME  NOT  TO  THE  HELP 
OF  THE  LORD,  TO  THE  HELP  OF  THE  LORD  AGAINST  THE  MIGHTY. — 
Judges  v,  23. 

THE  history  of  the  Judges  marks  a  peculiar  period. 
Three  great  leaders  had  preceded  this  period,  and 
the  government  had  been  uniform.  -After  these  suc- 
ceeded the  Judges,  who  administered  the  govern- 
ment, some  for  brief  and  others  for  longer  periods. 
They  were  generally  called  in  an  extraordinary  man- 
ner, and  constituted  no  part  of  a  line  of  succession, 
according  to  the  law  of  pedigree. 

One  of  these  Judges  was  a  woman,  a  prophetess. 
During  the  administration  of  Deborah,  the  children 
of  Israel  were  sorely  oppressed  by  Jabin  king  of 
Canaan.  Twenty  years  of  sore  servitude  under  a 
mighty  tyrant  had  ground  down  the  people,  and  well 
nigh  broken  their  spirit.  Still  they  had  confidence 
in  the  prophetess,  and  some  faith  in  God.  Jabin 
had  nine  hundred  chariots  of  iron,  and  an  innumera- 
ble host  of  warriors ;  but  being  summoned  to  the 
field  in  the  name  of  God,  ten  thousand  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Naphtali  and  Zebulon  followed  Deborah  and 
Barak.  The  battle  was  joined,  and  the  Canaanites 


188  OUR  COUNTRY: 

were  scattered  like  the  chaff  before  the  wind,  and 
the  whole  host  was  cut  off,  so  that  there  was  not  a 
man  left.  Sisera  fled,  on  foot  and  alone,  to  a  small 
piece  of  neutral  territory  occupied  by  Heber  the 
Kenite,  and  was  there  slain  by  Jael  with  a  nail  and 
a  hammer. 

Then  Deborah  composed  a  song,  which  is  marked 
by  great  poetic  beauty  and  power.  She  celebrates 
the  victory,  makes  mention  of  the  instrumentality 
employed,  but  gives  all  the  glory  to  God.  The  text 
is  a  part  of  this  song,  but  somewhat  variant  from  the 
general  strain..  It  is  an  imprecation  upon  a  com- 
munity who  took  no  part  in  the  battle. 

Meroz  was  a  city  or  a  district  which  probably  lay 
near  the  battle-field,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  of 
which  lay  special  obligations  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  struggle  for  liberty.  The  people  preferred 
their  own  ease  and  safety  to  the  obligations  and 
honors  of  patriotism  and  religion,  and  so  stayed  at 
home,  while  the  pious  and  the  brave  dared  to  fight, 
and  were  rewarded  with  the  honors  of  a  glorious 
victory.  Meroz  was  cursed,  and  went  into  oblivion. 
ISTow,  no  one  is  so  wise  as  to  know  even  its  locality. 
A  terrible  lesson  this  to  neutrals  in  a  great  moral 
struggle. 

With  these  preliminaries  I  shall  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  the  lessons  suggested  by  the  history. 

God  and  Satan,  Heaven  and  Hell,  Government 
and  Rebellion,  are  engaged  in  a  mighty  struggle. 


ITS   TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.    . 

What  should  we  do  in  this  great  conflict  ? 

It  is  our  duty  to  take  ground  decidedly  and  pub- 
licly for  our  country  and  the  right. 

We  are  all  concerned  in  the  issue  of  this  great 
battle  of  principles,  and  have  responsibilities  to  meet 
in  relation  to  it,  and  consequently  our  adherence 
should  be  promptly  and  publicly  given.  A  man  who 
would  do  his  duty  as  a  Christian  or  a  patriot  must 
not  try  to  do  it  in  secret.  Mcodemus  came  to  Christ 
by  night,  probably  to  avoid  publicity.  An  awakened 
conscience  should  not  court  darkness,  but  seek  the 
day.  What  is  there  in  the  matter  of  moral  responsi- 
bility to  be  ashamed  of?  The  question  is  simply  a 
question  of  right ;  and  who  should  be  ashamed  to  do 
right?  And  who  should  hesitate  in  a  question  of 
plain  duty  ?  It  is  cowardly,  it  is  weak  and  mean  to 
skulk  when  conscience  speaks  out  plainly.  In  such 
a  case  cowardice  is  criminal,  and  to  be  noncommittal 
is  a  sin  against  God.  A  stand  must  be  made.  A 
public  commitment  is  the  first  condition  of  disciple- 
ship  and  of  citizenship. 

Active  service  is  required  of  every  member  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  State. 

The  world,  the  flesh,  the  devil,  and  the  rebels  are 
in  active  opposition  to  God  and  us.  They  are  only 
to  be  overcome  by  prompt  and  stout  resistance.  No 
compromise  must  be  made  with  these  foes;  there 
must  be  no  relaxation  in  our  efforts,  no  faintness 
in  our  spirit,  until  they  are  finally  put  to  flight. 


190  OUK  COUNTRY: 

Religion  and  patriotism  are  not  the  mere  absence  of 
overt  acts  of  iniquity  and  treason ;  they  constitute  a 
grand  controversy,  a  lifelong  fight.  Passiveness  in 
this  cause  is  as  much  out  of  place  as  it  would  be  in  a 
soldier  amid  the  roar  of  battle,  or  in  a  sailor  during 
a  storm  at  sea.  Action,  onward,  aggressive  action, 
is  the  only  appropriate  course  and  the  true  line 
of  duty.  All  hell  is  in  motion.  The  devil  goes 
about  like  a  roaring  lion,  hunting  the  souls  of 
men,  and  shall  we  sleep  ?  The  enemy  is  upon  us, 
and  shall  not  we  arise  and  shake  ourselves?  The 
foe  thunders  from  afar,  and  shall  not  we  shout  for 
the  battle  ? 

We  should  hazard  all  upon  the  stake.  Too  much 
cannot  be  sacrificed  for  the  prize  which  is  in  contro- 
versy ;  too  much  cannot  be  done  in  the  service  which 
is  required.  All  our  powers  should  be  brought  into 
this  work. 

All  we  have  and  are  should  be  laid  upon  the  altar. 
The  man  who  found  the  pearl  of  great  price  went 
and  sold  all  that  he  had  and  bought  it,  and  was  in- 
finitely the  gainer  by  the  transaction.  The  duty  in 
question  is  paramount,  and  nothing  is  too  much  to 
give  or  to  do  in  such  a  cause.  Time,  property,  ease, 
life  itself,  should  be  considered  worthless  in  the  com- 
parison. Paul  says,  "  I  count  all  things  but  loss  for 
the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  my 
Lord:1'  ""What  shall  it  profit  a  man  .if  he  gain  the 
whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul  ?" 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  191 

I  shall  next  proceed  to  show  the  criminality  of 
inaction. 

It  is  the  cause  of  God  which  requires  active  sup- 
port. 

It  is  "  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  "  that  we  are  requir- 
ed to  come.  Not  as  though  God  were  a  weak  party 
who  requires  aid  to  save  him  from  superior  strength, 
but  he  works  by  instrumentalities,  and  the  instru- 
ments being  a  part  of  his  plan  are  essential  to  its 
completeness,  and  their  absence  would  be  at  least  a 
defect,  and  might  prove  the  cause  of  failure.  God 
could  carry  on  his  work  without  the  intervention  of 
means,  and  could  save  it  from  failure  by  a  miracle. 
But  we  have  no  right  to  look  for  any  miraculous  or 
extraordinary  intervention  in  a  case  in  which  human 
agency  constitutes  one  of  the  conditions  of  success. 

God  invites,  yea,  demands  our  help,  and  he  has  a 
right  to  command;  nor  could  he  confer  a  greater 
favor  upon  us  than  to  embrace  our  agency  in  his 
plans  of  working.  What  contempt  of  his  condescen- 
sion and  wisdom,  what  disobedience  to  his  commands 
is  inaction,  or  refusing  to  take  the  post  assigned  us 
in  the  great  pending  battle  ?  The  Church  is  God's 
militant  host,  his  great  fighting  army.  He  demands 
that  all  enlist,  and  that  all  range  themselves  on  his 
side  ;  that  all  join  in  the  battle  and  fight,  fight  val- 
iantly, fight  to  the  death  under  his  banner. 

The  dearest  interests  are  involved  in  the  pending 
struggle. 


192  OUE  COUNTRY: 

Human  interests  are  so  united  that  we  are  in  a 
measure  made  responsible  for  tlie  well-being  of 
others.  No  human  being  can  be  lost  without  involv- 
ing others  in  fearful  guilt.  Cain  repudiated  his 
obligation  to  seek  the  welfare  of  his  brother  when  he 
demanded,  "  Am  I  my  brother's  keeper  ?"  The 
principle  involved  in  this  question  is  essentially  anti- 
social; a  denial  of  the  relations  and  mutual  obliga- 
tions of  man  to  man.  In  opposition  to  this  principle 
of  selfish  individuality,  this  presumption  of  isolation 
from  the  interests  of  the  world  around  us,  it  is  true 
that,  by  an  unchangeable  law,  we  are  under  obliga- 
tions to  all  other  men  precisely  in  proportion  to  our 
power  to  serve  their  interests.  When  we  are  able  to 
do  anything  for  the  benefit  of  a  fellow-being  we  are 
responsible  to  God  and  to  society  for  doing  that 
thing,  and  are  involved  in  criminality  to  the  extent 
of  its  importance  to  the  interests  of  the  individual 
and  the  world,  if  we,  for  any  cause  whatever,  neglect 
or  decline  doing  it.  It  is  no  light  thing  that  God 
has  put  the  dearest  interests  of  others  within  oui 
power.  If  the  souls  of  men  and  the  existence  of  the 
country  are  at  stake,  it  is  a  fearful  hazard ;  and  if  we 
are  made  answerable  for  their  salvation,  on  us  rests 
a  tremendous  responsibility. 

Thus  far  in  this  discussion  I  have  considered  both 
spiritual  and  secular  interests  to  be  in  imminent 
peril ;  both  assaulted,  and  both  seeking  for  help.  God 
is  interested  in  both,  and  we  are  responsible  for  the 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  193 

security  of  both.  That  the  world  is  not  better  is,  in 
part  at  least,  our  fault.  Its  errors,  vices,  and  ruin 
may  be  laid  at  our  door.  What  countless  interests 
are  at  stake  in  the  moral  world,  and  calling  us  to  the 
rescue  ! 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  condition  of  the  country, 
and  the  call  upon  every  citizen  for  sympathy  and 
prompt  action  ?  What  shall  be  said  of  him  who 
ignores  his  obligations  and  does  nothing?  What 
more  pitiable  instance  of  selfishness  and  cowardice 
can  be  imagined  than  one  who  enjoys  the  protection 
of  the  state,  and  yet  takes  neutral  ground  while  great 
principles  and  interests  are  at  stake,  as  in  the  present 
struggle?  Constitutional  liberty  is  threatened;  the 
commerce  of  the  world  is  in  peril ;  vast  armies  are 
reaping  the  fields  of  death ;  the  wail  of  widows  and 
the  cry  of  orphans,  like  the  noise  of  the  restless  sea, 
are  wafted  upon  every  breeze,  and  the  sound  is  wax- 
ing louder  and  louder.  Our  country's  life  is  in  peril ; 
our  country's  life  is  in  peril  of  being  smitten  out  for- 
ever !  The  nation  is  suffering  a  fearful  agony,  and  is 
threatened  with  a  death-spasm.  Under  emergencies 
so  terrible,  who  will  fold  his  arms,  or  ask  to  be 
excused  from  active  participation  in  the  responsibili- 
ties, labors,  and  sacrifices  of  the  fearful  crisis  which 
is  upon  us  ? 

A  fearful  array  of  strength  is  to  be  met  and  over- 
come. 

It  was   "against  the  mighty"  that  the  inhabit- 
13 


194  OUK   COUNTRY  : 

ants  of  Meroz  refused  •  to  array  themselves.  To  a 
coward  this  might  be  a  reason  why  he  should  avoid 
participation  in  the  contest,  but  to  a  true  soldier  and 
a  patriot  it  would  be  an  urgent  reason  for  instant 
and  persevering  action.  The  greater  the  resources 
of  the  foe  in  numbers,  skill,  arid  treasure,  the  greater 
the  reason  why  lie  should  be  met  with  all  the  strength 
which  can  be  brought  into  the  field.  All  should 
fight,  and  fight  with  a  will,  lest  the  good  cause  fail 
through  the  weakness  of  its  defenders. 

The  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  are  combined 
against  the  government  of  God  and  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  Mighty  foes  these  ;  a  most  fearful  combina- 
tion against  the  hopes  and  interests  of  humanity. 
All  the  enginery  of  hell  is  brought  into  the  field. 
The*  world,  with  its  charms  and  false  showing ;  the 
flesh,  with  its  gratifications  ;  the  devil,  with  his  wiles 
and  fiery  darts,  are  ready  for  the  onset.  The  battle 
is  begun,  the  citadel  of  the  soul  is  to  be  taken  by 
assault.  See  the  marshaled  hosts ;  hear  the  shouting 
of  the  captains.  The  clarion  sounds  loud  and  shrill. 
Now  cowards  fly,  but  brave  men  and  true  rush  into 
the  fray.  Their  language  is,  "  Shall  such  men  as  we 
flee  ?"  The  hotter  the  battle  the  higher  mounts  their 
courage ;  the  greater  the  hazard,  the  greater  their 
enthusiasm,  and  the  harder  their  blows ;  the  more 
numerous  and  powerful  the-foe,  the  more  energy  and 
skill  and  might  they  bring  to  the  battle. 

When  the  cause  is  a  good  one,  the  craft  and  power 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  195 

of  the  opposition  are  reasons  why  no  true  man  should 
avoid  the  conflict.  When  the  emergency  is  press- 
ing, when  all  that  we  value  is  in  danger,  when  the 
foe  is  mighty,  then  is  the  hour  which  reveals  the 
meanness  of  spirit  and  the  heartless  cowardice,  or  the 
treachery  of  those  who  come  not  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord.  The  very  state  of  things  which  causes  them 
to  keep  out  of  sight,  that  they  may  be  out  of  danger, 
will  in  the  final  day  cover  them  with  infamy  and 
sink  them  in  perdition.  What  will  it  then  avail  the 
delinquent  to  say,  "It  was  a  terrible  foe  which  I 
was  summoned  to  meet.  I  was  afraid.  I  love  an 
easy  and  quiet  life."  Ah,  the  Judge  will  then 
say,  "  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  condemn  thee: 
Was  the  foe  mighty  !  So  much  the  greater  the  de- 
mand for  valiant  soldiers.  Wast  thou  afraid  ?  Go 
and  contend  with  the  devouring  flames.  Didst  thou 
seek  thine  ease  when  God's  hosts  were  arrayed  on 
the  battle-field  ?  Go  away  and  lie  down  in  sorrow. 
'  Thou  earnest  not  to  the  help  of  the  Lord,  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.' "  There  is  the 
grand  point  of  their  baseness  and  their  criminality. 

Deliberate  neutrality  is,  in  some  cases,  the  basest 
species  of  treason.  It  shows  a  heart  of  enmity,  where 
there  is  not  courage  and  manliness  enough  to  take 
the  place  of  an  open  foe.  Shall  such  enemies  be 
exempt  from  the  fate  of  avowed  rebels  ?  Shall  they 
not  rather  be  considered  worthy  of  special  marks  of 
disapprobation  ?  Shall  they  not  be  punished  both  for 


196  OUR  COUNTRY: 

their  heartlessness  in  the  cause  and  their  hypocritical 
professions  ,of  love  for  it  ? 

In  the  final  judgment,  as  Christ  describes  it,  those 
who  are  cursed  and  banished  are  not  charged  with 
overt  acts  of  rebellion,  but  with  the  want  of  positive 
qualities,  the  fruits  of  active  piety.  They  may  have 
been  willing  that  the  hungry  of  God's  little  ones 
should  be  fed,  and  the  naked  should  be  clothed ;  they 
may  often  have  said,  "Be  ye  warmed  and  be  ye 
filled,"  but  this  is  not  enough.  They  are  banished 
into  everlasting  fire  because  they  are  not  found  active 
and  faithful  in  serving  God.  The  absence  of  open 
hostility  to  the  cause  of  God  and  religion  is  the  vail 
by  which  they  try  to  cover  a  heart  so  base  as  to  seek 
the  friendship  of  both  parties,  so  destitute  of  the  love 
of  God  as  to  court  the  favor  of  mammon.  All  such 
will  have  their  portion  with  the  devil  and  his  angels. 

From  what  has  been  presented,  it  will  appear  that 
inaction,  in  the  great  question  of  duty  to  God  and 
society,  is  highly  criminal.  Let  us  now  look  at  the 
consequences. 

The  punishment  which  will  be  inflicted  upon  those 
who  prove  recreant. 

The  curse  ordered  to  be  pronounced  upon  Meroz 
was  both  judicial  and  prophetic.  It  was  ordered  by 
"  the  Angel ;"  probably  "  the  Angel  of  the  Cove- 
nant" is  to  be  understood,  the  Angel  who  led  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  through  the  wilderness,  who  appeared 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  197 

to  Joshua,  who  fought  for  God's  people  and  discom- 
fited their  enemies. 

The  curse  includes — 

Disgrace. 

To  be  disapproved  by  God  is  to  be  dishonored  in 
the  most  fearful  sense,  and  without  the  possibility  of 
escape.  The  scorn  of  the  multitude  can  be  borne, 
but  the  frown  of  God  withers  all  the  laurels  of  men, 
and  covers  them  with  shame.  God  says,  "  They  that 
despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed." 

There  is  also  the  loss  of  power. 

The  wicked  lose  the  power  which  they  once  had 
of  winning  fame  and  a  name  of  doing  good  or  great 
things.  The  talent  is  taken .  from  "  the  unprofitable 
servant,"  who  "hid  it  in  .the  earth."  He  may  not 
have  injured  it :  he  may  say,  "  There  thou  hast  that 
is  thine."  It  is  all  there  safely  concealed,  and  it  can 
be  promptly  returned.  But  the  lord  of  that  servant 
says,  "  Take  the  talent  from  him."  The  barren  fig- 
tree  cursed  by  the  Saviour  was,  from  that  moment, 
"  dried  up  from  the  root :"  thenceforth  it  was  with- 
out the  power  of  yielding  fruit — a  fit  emblem  of  a 
fruitless  member  of  the  Church  of  God,  or  of  an  able- 
bodied  man  who  refuses  to  face  the  foe.  Buried 
talents  are  useless,  and  will  by  and  by  be  taken  away 
and  given  to  the  faithful  and  earnest  worker,  where 
they  will  be  turned  to  some  account.  Sloth  and 
narrowness  of  mind  are  in  the  first  instance  chosen 
as  privileges  and  blessings,  but  in  the  end  they  are 


198  OUR  COUNTRY: 

judicial  inflictions.  "  The  sluggard  will  not  plow  by 
reason  of  the  cold,  therefore  shall  he  beg  in  harvest 
and  have  nothing."  He  has  chosen  idleness,  he  shall 
therefore  be  cursed  with  the  eternal  blight  of  all  his 
powers  and  privileges.  He  assumed  the  position  of 
a  mere  negative,  he  is  therefore  condemned  to  be 
one ;  to  be  good  for  nothing,  and  have  nothing,  and 
be  nothing. 

The  curse  implies  divine  wrath,  without  mitigation 
and  without  end. 

We  may  gather  some  intimations  of  the  meaning 
of  the  curse  in  the  text  from  the  fact  that  the  place 
wrhere  lived  the  people  so  fearfully  cursed  is  wholly 
obliterated  from  the  geography  of  the  world.  The 
last  we  hear  of  it  is,  "  Curse  ye  Meroz,  saith  the  An- 
gel of  the  Lord,  curse  ye  bitterly  the  inhabitants 
thereof,  because  they  came  not  to  the  help  of  the 
Lord,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty." 
The  subsequent  history  of  this  delinquent  people 
is  shrouded  in  darkness.  Who  can  bless  whom 
the  Lord  curses?  What  power  can  deliver  us  out 
of  his  hands,  if  he  sends  down  his  wrath  upon  us? 
The  curse  of  God  is  a  thunderbolt  of  vengeance, 
hurled  at  the  transgressor,  sinking  him  in  outer  dark- 
ness. That  curse  is  the  worm  that  never  dies — the 
fire  that  never  shall  be  quenched.  It  is  weeping, 
wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  It  is  remorse,  de- 
spair, and  endless  night ;  starless,  moonless  night. 
And  what  a  doom  awaits  the  sinner  when  ends  this 


ITS  TRIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  199 

gracious  day  of  visitation !  Now  he  hopes  for  im- 
punity; then  his  hopes  will  all  die.  Now  he  has 
Christian  sympathies ;  then  he  shall  be  eternally  shut 
out  from  Christian  associations. 

The  subject  is  fruitful  of  practical  suggestions. 

No  favor  to  a  good  cause  is  of  any  value  but  that 
which  is  practical. 

In  a  great  struggle,  of  what  value  is  passive  favor? 
The  people  of  Meroz  might  have  had  many  good 
wishes  for  the  success  of  Deborah  and  Barak  in  the 
great  battle  which  was  to  take  place ;  but  of  what 
avail  were  their  good  wishes  when  hard  blows  alone 
were  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  whole  people  ?  What 
weight  has  a  community  of  neutrals  in  a  war  for 
national  existence  ?  They  may  be  numerous,  wealthy, 
and  influential,  but  if  they  will  furnish  neither  men 
nor  means  for  the  contest,  of  what  value  are  they  to 
the  state  ?  Ten  thousand,  or  ten  hundred  thousand 
such  citizens  would  not  be  equal  to  one  genuine 
patriot. 

We  ask  not  for  good  opinions  and  fair  words,  but 
we  want  brave  hearts,  noble  daring,  deeds  which 
tell,  blows  which  will  strike  terror  into  the  heart  of 
the  enemy,  an  onward  movement  which  will  break 
their  ranks,  scatter  their  hosts,  and  take  their  cita- 
dels. Action,  action  is  what  the  exigences  of  the 
cause  require.  We  ask  you  not  what  you  secretly 
think  of  theSe  things,  but  what  you  will  do  ?  What 
ground  will  you  take?  What  sacrifice  will  you 


200  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

make  ?  What  danger  will  you  face  ?  "What  estimate 
do  you  put  upon  the  cause  ?  Where  action  is  duty, 
inaction  is  sin.  What  defense  would  it  be  for  an  idle 
servant  to  plead  that  he  had  not  wasted  your  goods, 
nor  destroyed  the  products  of  your  field  ?  Shall  an 
able-bodied  citizen,  whose  services  are  required  in. 
times  of  national  peril,  answer  the  charge  of  refusing 
to  obey  the  call  of  his  country  by  pleading  that  he 
has  not  given  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy,  he  has 
not  been  secretly  confederate  with  the  foe?  Will 
that  meet  the  case?  Will  it  be  a  valid  ground  of 
justification  against  the  accusation  of  delinquency  in 
duty  to  the  government?  Fancy  a  sinner  coming  up 
to  the  judgment-seat  and  pleading,  "  Lord,  I  always 
wished  well  to  the  cause  of  religion.  I  never  reviled 
or  persecuted  thy  servants.  I  was  not  a  murderer 
nor  a  thief,  nor  a  profane  swearer,  nor  a  Sabbath- 
breaker,  nor  a  libertine,  nor  a  drunkard.  Now  what 
have  I  done  that  I  should  be  condemned  ?"  Would 
not  the  answer  be,  "  What  have  you  done  that  you 
should  go  to  heaven  ?  What  kind  of  a  steward  have 
you  been  ?  Did  you  take  the  office  with  the  under- 
standing that  you  were  to  do  nofliing?"  Such  pleas 
are  often  made  here,  but  they  will  not  answer  before 
the  bar  of  God. 

You  may  be  an  inoffensive  creature,  trying  to  do 
no  harm.  This  is  not  all  that  is  required.  .If  you 
have  none  of  the  positive  elements  of  Christian  char- 
acter it  is  folly  for  you  to  count  yourself  a  Christian. 


ITS  TEIAL  A2STD  ITS  TRIUMPH.  201 

You  neither  go  into  battle  nor  "abide  by  the  stuff." 
You  neither  fight,  nor  strengthen  those  who  do. 
You  occupy  the  place  of  a  mere  sponge :  absorb  all 
and  give  out  nothing.  If  you  could  be  saved  in  this 
way  the  credit  would  all  redound  to  others.  Do 
you  desire  to  be  saved  thus?  Would  you  have  the 
Church  do  all  for  you,  and  you  do  nothing  for  her? 
O  shame!  where  is  thy  blush?  You  are  a  sinner, 
and  a  great  sinner,  and  God  will  so  write  you  down 
in  the  day  of  judgment.  The  unprofitable  servant 
will  be  cast  into  outer  darkness. 

These  times  eminently  call  for  the  spirit  of  ag- 
gression. 

The  enemy  is  upon  us,  and  there  is  no  safety  but 
in  a  forward  movement  and  a  decisive  victory. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  standing  still.  The  tide 
of  iniquity  is  every  day  gathering  force ;  inaction  is 
certain  destruction.  National  sins,  individual  sins, 
sins  in  high  places  and  in  low,  call  aloud  for  instant 
and  continued  action,  energetic,  aggressive  action. 
"We  are  to  conquer  or  be  conquered ;  to  fight  bravely 
and  win  a  glorious  victory,  or  be  ingloriously  de- 
feated and  driven  from  the  field.  O  for  a  simulta- 
neous movement  upon  the  foe  !  O  for  the  aggressive 
spirit  of  primitive  times !  May  God  give  the  victory  ! 

The  impossibility  of  neutrality  -is  as  evident  in  civil 
as  in  religious  affairs. 

The  nation  is  engaged  in  a  great  war ;  a  war  of  de- 
fense against  a  gigantic  rebellion.  There  are  but  two 


202  OUR  COUNTRY : 

sides  to  the  question  at  issue.  The  unity  and  the 
very  existence  of  the  nation  are  on  one  side,  and  its 
dismemberment  and  ruin  on  the  other.  There  is  no 
middle  ground.  Kentucky  made  an  effort  at  neutral- 
ity, but  finally  gave  it  up  as  impracticable.  Many 
men  at  the  North  have  tried  to  be  on  both  sides,  or  on 
neither,  but  have  failed.  In  all  cases  they  have  been 
found  on  the  side  of  the  rebellion.  As  Christ  says, 
"  He  that  is  not  for  me  is  against  me,"  so  it  is,  he  that 
is  not  for  the  government  and  the  nation  is  against  it. 
Neutrality  is  treason  as  truly  in  relation  to  our  na- 
tional interests  as  in  religion. 

Let  those  then  who  refuse  to  give  active  support  to 
the  government  in  this  terrible  crisis  expect  the  curse 
which  fell  on  Meroz  of  old.  For  if  the  cause  of  Deb- 
orah and  Barak  was  the  cause  of  God  and  truth,  such 
also  is  the  cause  of  the  American  Union. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  203 


XII. 

NO    FALSE    PEACE. 

THEY  HATE  HEALED  ALSO  THE  HURT  OP  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  MY 
PEOPLE  SLIGHTLY,  SAYING,  PEACE,  PEACE;  WHEN  THERE  IS  NO 
PEACE. — Jer.  vi,  14. 

THE  word  peace  is  understood  to  be  used  in  the  text 
for  concord  between  parties.  In  this  sense  I  shall 
use  it.  Some  parties  can  never  be  at  peace;  it  is 
naturally  and  morally  impossible.  The  impossibility 
arises  from  the  antagonism  which  exists  between  good 
and  evil,  truth  and  error.  Under  some  circumstances 
an  effort  to  make  peace  is  to  commence  a  war  against 
God  and  nature.  In  cases  in  which  hostility  is  the 
natural  and  moral  condition  of  the  parties,  peace  is 
neither  desirable  nor  attainable.  All  efforts  to  har- 
monize invincible  opposites  are  worse  than  foolish ; 
they  are  so  many  assaults  upon  the  laws  of  nature 
and  the  order  which  God  has  established. 

This  much  being  premised,  I  shall  proceed  to  dis- 
cuss the  two  opposites,  false  and  true  peace. 

False  peace. 

This  peace  is  hollow,  wholly  outward,  a  mere  sem- 
blance. Where  peace  is  nothing  but  a  cessation  of  ex- 
ternal hostilities  it  implies  no  radical  agreement,  and 


204  CUE  COUNTRY: 

is  likely  to  be  interrupted  on  the  slightest  occasion. 
Such  a  peace  is  hollow  but  not  empty.  Like  a  bomb- 
shell, it  may  be  fearfully  dangerous. 

At  the  present  time  much  is  said  about  making 
peace  with  the  rebels.  They  desire  peace;  that  is, 
they  wish  to  be  let  alone.  They  want  the  privilege 
of  casting  off  their  allegiance  to  the  government,  of 
repudiating  the  Constitution,  of  robbing  the  treasury, 
of  taking  possession  of  our  forts,  ships  of  war,  and 
navy-yards,  and  of  erecting  a  government  based  upon 
slavery  as  "  its  chief  corner-stone,"  and  of  being  let 
alone  in  all  this.  They  ask,  "  Why  send  your  armies, 
to  invade  our  territory  and  destroy  our  property  and 
kill  our  citizens?  Why  not  grant  us  the  boon  of 
peace  ?  Leave  us  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  our 
rights;  this  is  all  we  ask."  And  there  are  some 
among  us  who  pretend  to  think  this  reasonable. 

Were  there  no  other  objections  to  this  plea  for 
peace,  I  object  to  it  that  no  substantial  peace  can  be 
made  with  the  leaders  of  rebellion.  What  basis  for 
confidence  is  there  in  men  who  have  broken  faith 
with  the  government,  and  repudiated  their  oaths  of 
office,  and  plundered  the  public  property  ?  What  but 
a  hollow  peace  could  be  made  with  such  a  class  of 
men?  With  a  frontier  of  thousands  of  miles,  and 
endless  jealousies  growing  out  of  the  peculiar  consti- 
tutions and  commercial  interests  of  the  two  sections, 
how  long  would  a  peace  last  which  should  include  the 
recognition  of  southern  independence  2 


ITS   TEIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  205 

Every  vessel  entering  a  southern  port  would  be 
searched  to  see  if  colored  persons  were  on  board. 
Whatever  stipulations  for  the  free  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  might  be  entered  into,  that  river  would 
not  remain  free  for  a  twelvemonth.  Every  boat  from 
the  ISTorth  on  its  return  would  be  hailed  and  brought 
to  a  dozen  times,  to  institute  a  search  for  contrabands. 
The  constant  recurrence  of  such  irritating  causes 
would  soon  bring  on  another  war. 

The  idea  that  the  United  States  can  be  divided  and 
constitute  two  governments,  and  they  maintain  ami- 
cable relations  with  each  other,  is  altogether  Quixotic, 
and  not  to  be  entertained  for  a  moment. 

Equally  hollow  and  shortlived  would  be  any  pacifi- 
cation of  the  present  trouble  founded  upon  a  guaran- 
tee of  a  continuance  and  perpetuity  of  slavery. 
Slavery  has  been  the  great  bone  of  contention  from 
the  first.  It  is  bound  either  to  rule  or  ruin.  It  will 
not  consent  to  be  stationary.  It  must  be  allowed  to 
push  itself  everywhere,  and  overshadow  everything 
near.  It  everywhere  makes  fight  with  the  progress 
of  liberal  opinions,  and  with  the  advance  of  free- 
dom. He  must  be  blind  indeed  who  supposes  that 
slavery  can  be  restored  and  protected  by  constitu- 
tional provisions,  and  yet  peace  be  maintained  be- 
tween the  supporters  of  slave  and  of  free  labor.  The 
question  is  settled  that  human  slavery  in  the  United 
States  must  die.  The  people  have  so  decreed.  In- 
deed, already  it  is  so  nearly  an  accomplished  fact  that 


206  CUE  COUNTRY  : 

it  is  scarcely  a  question  of  debate.  Those  politicians 
who  say,  "  Give  back  to  the  southern  people  their 
slaves,  and  guarantee  to  them  their  constitutional 
rights,  and  we  will  have  peace,"  are  a  small  company 
and  are  growing  "  beautifully  less."  There  is  now 
no  light  in  this  direction,  if  there  ever  was  any.  The 
day  for  such  diplomacy  has  passed.  The  southern 
leaders  themselves  repudiate  the  idea  of  a. return  to 
the  old  Union  upon  the  basis  of  constitutional  guar- 
antees for  the  protection  of  slavery.  They  say, 
"  Our  independence  is  what  we  are  fighting  for,  and 
we  are  willing  to  sacrifice  everything  else  to  that ; 
even  slavery  itself  may  go  if  it  should  stand  in  the 
way."  By  slavery  they  mean  their  present  slaves,  for 
if  their  independence  were  acknowledged  it  would 
not  be  long  before  they  would  be  engaged  in  the 
slave-trade,  and  by  that  means  would  quickly  replen- 
ish their  empty  slave-pens.  Jefferson  Davis  and  the 
southern  editors  may  prate  as  much  as  they  please 
about  giving  up  slavery :  they  are  slave-drivers  at 
heart.  If  their  slaves  were  all  given  up  to-day,  they 
would  have  more  to-morrow  if  they  could. 

The  wounds  of  the  state  cannot  be  healed  by  such 
nostrums  as  these. 

A  false  peace  is  a  dangerous  peace. 

A  true  peace  is  always  safe.  Any  peace  short  of 
that  which  is  based  upon  the  submission  of  the  rebels 
to  the  government  must  be  fraught  with  peril.  It 
would  hazard  our  national  life,  on  whatever  terms 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  207 

the  peace  should  be  concluded.  The  only  terms  on 
which  the  rebels  will  consent  to  end  the  war  is  the 
acknowledgment  of  their  independence.  And  how 
can  this  be  done  without  peril  to  our  own?  Two 
independent  nations  in  the  same  country,  of  the 
same  language,  the  same  religion,  and  the  same 
political  creed,  are  scarcely  a  possibility.  Two  na- 
tions, with  such  antagonisms  as  have  grown  up  and 
been  aggravated  by  civil  war,  not  separated  by  nat 
ural  barriers,  must  of  necessity  be  at  war  with  each 
other.  Peace  obtained  on  the  condition  of  recogni- 
tion would  be  the  peace  of  a  day,  with  endless  hos- 
tilities beyond. 

More  than  all  this,  as  we  should  lose  our  power 
and  prestige  as  a  nation,  we  should  be  insulted  and 
injured  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  and  embroiled  in 
wars  with  them,  or  obliged  to  submit  to  wrongs 
which  we  would  be  unable  to  avenge.  Our  safety 
lies  in  our  power;  our  power  once  gone,  we  should 
be  the  sport  of  tyrants  and  despots  the  world  over. 
Even  second  and  third-rate  powers  would  expect  to 
infringe  upon  our  rights  with  impunity. 

A  beautiful  way  this  of  securing  peace !  Better  far 
would  it  be  for  us  to  continue  the  war  for  twenty 
years,  or  until  our  resources  of  men  and  money  are 
utterly  exhausted. 

"When  we  seek  for  peace  to  avoid  the  burdens  of 
war,  we  should  always  ask  ourselves  what  other  dan- 
ger will  this  peace  bring  with  it  ?  It  would  be  of  no 


208  OUR  COUNTRY: 

avail  to  make  peace  with.  Satan  in  order  to  escape 
perdition. 

A  false  peace  is  a  wicked  peace. 

A  peace  made  between  contending  parties  at  the 
expense  of  principle  is  sin.  Lord  Bolingbroke  says, 
"All  compromises  are  immoral."  This  is  too  sweep- 
ing a  proposition.  We  may  in  some  cases  compro- 
mise a  personal  right ;  we  may  sacrifice  something,  yea, 
much,  to  the  public  good ;  we  may  compromise  any- 
thing that  is  immaterial  or  morally  in diiferent ;  but  we 
cannot  sacrifice  humanity  or  justice  or  religion  for 
considerations  of  policy  or  worldly  expediency  with- 
out incurring  guilt.  Such  compromises  are  indeed 
immoral.  To  make  peace  with  the  rebels  upon  any 
other  ground  than  that  of  submission  to  the  laws  and 
the  restoration  of  the  Union,  would  be  to  concede  the 
right  of  rebellion  against  lawful  authority  and  just 
government.  It  would  be  not  merely  impolitic,  it 
would  be  as  wicked  as  the  rebellion  itself. 

The  wickedness  of*  such  a  peace  would  be  aggra- 
vated by  several  marked  circumstances.  In  the  first 
place,  the  government  assumed  at  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  that  it  was  without  any  just  cause,  a 
high  crime  against  Christian  civilization  and  against 
society,  and  a  sin  against  God ;  that  it  was  destruct- 
ive of  civil  government  and  public  morals.  On 
these  grounds  the  administration  justified  itself 
before  the  world  for  defending  itself  by  force  and 
arms.  On  these  grounds  Christian  citizens  have 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  209 

taken  up  arms  and  marched  into  the  field  of  deadly 
strife  with  a  good  conscience,  and  ministers  and 
Churches  have  prayed  to  the  God  of  armies  for  the 
success  of  our  brethren.  To  make  peace  with  the 
rebels  now,  without  their  submission,  is  to  abandon 
this  high  ground,  and  to  confess  that  the  rebels  are 
right  and  we  are  wrong.  Should  peace  be  declared 
without  the  submission  of  the  rebels,  only  one  thing 
could  save  the  country  from  the  guilt  and  shame  of 
a  wicked  abandonment  of  her  high  moral  position, 
and  that  would  be  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the  Union 
cause.  Should  the  federal  forces  be  finally  and  fa- 
tally beaten,  the  claims  of  humanity  might  require 
us  to  abandon  a  hopeless  struggle,  and  to  recognize 
the  rebels  as  an  independent  nationality.  In  such  a 
case  the  character  of  the  rebellion  would  be  set  aside 
in  the  necessities  of  a  revolution.  The  present  is  no 
time  for  a  resort  to  peace  on  any  such  grounds,  and  for 
any  such  reasons.  For  the  last  twelve  months  our 
arms  have  scarcely  had  a  disaster  worthy  of  mention. 
Victory  upon  victory  has  followed  our  brave  boys, 
and  now  the  power  of  the  rebellion  is  narrowed 
down  to  a  single  point.  Under  present  circum- 
stances an  act  of  pacification  with  the  rebels  could 
only  be  construed  as  a  humiliating  confession  that 
the  national  cause  is  wrong.  This  would  be  a  na- 
tional apostasy  from  the  principles  of  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  grace  of  the  revolution.  It  would  be  a 

shameful  acknowledgment  that  the  great  American 

14 


210  OUR  COUNTRY: 

Republic  is  nn worthy  of  national  existence,  because 
it  is  too  weak  and  cowardly  to  maintain  it. 

Another  aggravation  of  the  base  compliance  sup- 
posed would  be  the  necessary  and  wicked  waste  of 
life  and  treasure  which  the  war  has  occasioned.  If 
the  war  is  wrong  now,  it  was  wrong  at  first,  and 
should  never  have  been  undertaken.  If  it  has  been 
wrong  from  its  inception,  then  our  government,  with 
the  approbation  of  nearly  the  whole  Northern  people, 
has  causelessly  and  wickedly  shed  rivers  of  blood, 
and  destroyed  millions  upon  millions  of  treasure.  If 
the  war  for  the  Union  is  wrong,  then  upon  our  souls, 
who  have  approved  it  and  aided  it,  and  not  on  the 
government  alone,  lies  the  blood  not  only  of  our 
slaughtered  fellow-citizens  who  have  perished  in  bat- 
tle, but  the  blood  of  the  hundred  thousand  rebels 
who  have  been  sacrificed.  Such  are  the  logical  con- 
sequences of  a  settlement  of  the  present  war  upon 
any  other  terms  than  that  of  the  submission  of  the 
rebels  to  the  lawfully  constituted  authorities  of  the 
United  States. 

Another  aggravation  of  the  sin  of  a  false  peace  is 
that  it  leaves  a  great  emergency  but  partially  met. 
The  war  was  commenced  on  the  part  of  the  rebels 
for  the  perpetuation  of  slavery.  On  our  part  it 
necessarily  became  a  war  for  freedom.  The  procla- 
mation of  the  President  liberated  the  slaves  of  the 
rebellious  states  so  far  as  the  arms  of  the  United 
States  carried  their  authority.  This  was  the  period ; 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  211 

this  was  the  long-expected  hour  of  release  to  hund- 
reds of  thousands  of  slaves.  The  logic  of  events 
proved  that  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war  for 
the  Union  would  be  the  means  of  the  emancipation 
of  the  multitudes  still  in  slavery.  These  poor  crea- 
tures are  now  looking  for  the  consummation  of  their 
cherished  hopes,  and  the  answer  to  their  many  pray- 
ers,. Now  just  as  this  great  object  is  upon  the  point 
of  being  gained,  at  the  very  moment  the  residue  of 
enslaved  men  and  women  are  lifting  the  cup  of  lib- 
erty to  their  lips,  shall  it  be  dashed  to  the  ground  ? 
God  forbid.  President  Lincoln  has  constantly  refused 
to  listen  to  any  terms  which  did  not  include  the 
restoration  of  the  Union  and  freedom  for  the  slaves ; 
and  an  abandonment  of  this  position  would  "  break 
hope  to  the  heart "  after  giving  it  to  the  ear.  It 
would  parry  and  turn  away  a  grand  stroke  of  Provi- 
dence ;  it  would  partially  beat  down  one  of  the  most 
glorious  achievements  of  the  ages  ;  it  would  destroy 
the  faith  and  blast  the  hopes  which  the  policy  of  the 
government  and  its  past  successes  have  inspired. 

Finally,  the  nation  is  suffering  from  a  grievous 
"  hurt  "  or  wound  inflicted  by  the  rebellion,  and  the 
business  of  the  war  is  to  probe  it  to  the  bottom, 
cleanse  it,  and  prepare  it  for  a  radical  cure.  "Will  it 
not  be  both  foplish  and  wicked  to  heal  the  surface 
and  leave  the  consuming  gangrene,  the  festering 
ulcer,  to  work  its  way  to  the  vitals  of  the  nation  ? 
To  heal  the  wounds  of  the  state  slightly  is  to 


212  OUR  COUNTRY : 

vate  them,  and  to  become  in  a  measure  responsible 
for  the  dire  results  which  follow.  This  superficial 
healing  has  its  agents  and  its  advocates.  There  are 
an  abundance  of  peace-mongers  who  cry,  "  Peace, 
peace."  Just  now  these  men  are  the  most  trouble- 
some, if  not  the  most  dangerous  class  of  people  with 
whom  the  government  has  to  contend.  Let  these 
empirics  stand  aside,  and  leave  Gen.  Grant  and  Gen. 
Sherman  to  cut  the  knot  with  their  swords.  Doubt- 
less peace  is  desirable.  We  all  want  peace,  but  not 
a  false  peace.  We  want  no  hasty,  transient  peace 
which  God  does  not  sanction,  and  which  will  vanish 
in  smoke.  Let  us  hear  no  more  of  this  unholy  peace. 
Let  not  the  people  be  deceived  and  disappointed  by 
rumors  of  a  sudden  cessation  of  hostilities.  Let  us 
look  for  peace  through  the  success  of  our  armies  in 
the  field,  and  not  by  compromise. 

The  government  will  not  abandon  its  high  ground 
and  yield  to  the  unreasoning  clamor  of  a  few  polit- 
ical demagogues  through  mere  weariness  of  their 
noise.  No  peace  which  compromises  with  sin  can 
be  approved  of  Heaven.  "  First  pure,  then  peace- 
able ;"  "  the  fruit  of  righteousness  is  peace ;"  are 
the  divine  maxims. 

Having  discussed  the  different  kinds  of  false  peace, 
I  proceed  to  a  brief  notice  of  true  peace. 

True  peace  is  that  which  "  God  has  spoken  "  or 
authorized. 


ITS  TKIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  213 

The  peace  which  has  the  divine  sanction  is  that 
which  is  conservative  of  the  civil  power. 

God  has  spoken  out  unmistakably  in  favor  of  the 
maintenance  of  civil  government,  and  especially  of 
the  citizen's  duty  to  sustain  it.  "Would  he  then  ap- 
prove of  an  abandonment  of  legitimate  and  just  civil 
constitutions  and  systems  of  public  law  ?  Certainly 
not ;  we  need  no  argument  to  prove  this.  God  never 
contradicts  himself.  He  has  settled  the  question  of 
the  authority  and  the  obligations  of  law  and  govern- 
ment finally  and  forever.  Any  peace  which  removes 
the  stays  and  defenses  of  society  and  the  public  in- 
terests cannot  meet  with  the  divine  approval.  When 
God  authorizes  peace,  it  is  a  solid  and  lasting  peace. 

When  a  peace  is  settled  between  contending  par- 
ties under  the  divine  approval,  no  public  interest  is 
put  in  jeopardy. 

God  is  a  God  of  order,  and  not  of  confusion.  Un- 
der his  "administration  social  and  individual  rights 
are  held  sacred.  His  government  is  just,  as  well  as 
merciful.  He  never  sanctions  a  weak  leniency  which 
endangers  the  public  safety.  There  is  no  authority 
for  setting  at  large  thieves,  robbers,  and  murderers 
out  of  sheer  clemency.  Mercy  to  the  offender  in  such 
cases  would  be  cruelty  to  the  unoffending  citizen. 
The  same  principles  obtain  in  the  adjustment  of 
difficulties  between  contending  parties,  and  in  the 
administration  of  public  law  in  dealing  with  state 
offenders.  Fiat  justitia,  mat  ccelum. 


214  OUR  COUNTRY: 

Let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  the  govern- 
ment is  not  now  called  upon  to  make  terms  with  a 
nation,  nor  with  a  belligerent  power,  a»  such  a  power 
is  understood  in  the  law  of  nations,  but  the  question 
is  one  of  peace  with  rebels.  Now,  in  the  name  of 
reason  and  religion,  what  terms  of  peace  can  be  made 
with  rebels  upon  any  other  basis  than  that  of  submis- 
sion to  law  and  to  the  authority  of  the  government  ? 
To  give  rebels  against  a  just  government  the  boon  of 
reconciliation  upon  the  condition  of  submission  is 
Christian,  is  Godlike.  To  go  beyond  this,  and  grant 
conditions  of  peace  without  submission,  would  be  a 
total  abrogation  of  the  dignity  of  the  state.  It  would 
be  the  end  of  civil  authority  and  of  all  just  govern- 
ment. God  has  never  "  spoken  "  such  a  ';  peace  "  as 
this.  Politicians  may  have  contrived  it,  cowards 
may  have  spoken  it,  rebels  may  have  demanded  it, 
but  no  higher  authority  has  given  it  sanction.  •  Pa- 
triots and  Christians  trample  it  under  their  feet. 

A  true  peace  is  one  which  establishes  law  and  gov- 
ernment, and  stamps  rebellion  with  infamy. 

After  the  fearful  struggle  which  the  nation  has 
maintained  for  nearly  four  years,  after  all  the  precious 
blood  which  has  been  shed  in  a  war  with  rebellion, 
are  the  rebels  to  be  let  off  scot-free,  and  have  all  they 
presumptuously  ask  ?  Are  they  to  share  the  fame  of 
revolutionary  patriots  ?  Is  the  rebellion  to  be  christ- 
ened a  Revolution  ?  ]STo,  the  government  is  about  to 
do  no  such  weak,  mean,  wicked  thing.  "With  God's 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  215 

help  it  will  crush  this  unholy  rebellion  and  stamp  it 
with  infamy.  It  will  teach  ambitious  aspirants  to  irre- 
sponsible power,  and  rebels  against  the  most  just  and 
beneficent  government  in  the  world  a  lesson  which 
will  humble  them  for  life. 

The  masses,  who  are  victims  rather  than  responsi- 
ble agents,  should  receive  clemency,  but  the  origina- 
tors and  leaders  of  the  stupendous  crime  should  be 
visited  with  such  condign  punishment  as  will  be  a 
terror  to  traitors  for  all  time  to  come.  In  justice 
they  should  be  hung,  shot,  or  banished,  under  mili- 
tary law,  as  soon  as  they  are  caught.  God  has  spoken 
no  peace  for  them,  nor  has  he  spoken  a  peace  which 
would  give  them  the  opportunity  to  repeat  their 
treason. 

[The  preceding  portion  of  this  discourse  was  writ- 
ten before  the  result  of  the  recent  conversation  be- 
tween the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  and 
the  so-called  peace  commissioners  of  the  rebels,  in 
Hampton  Roads,  was  known.*  Row  the  philosophy 
of  this  peace  movement  contained  in  the  preceding 
thoughts  is  history,  and  what  sensible,  unprejudiced 
man,  under  the  circumstances,  regrets  the  result  ? 

The  firmness  with  which  the  President  adhered  to 
his  often-declared  principles,  granting  no  peace  to 
rebels  without  submission  to  the  government  as  a 
preliminary  condition,  meets  with  the  approval  of 

*  This  Conference  occurred  in  February,  1865. 


216  OUR  COUNTRY: 

the  country,  and  adds  to  his  high  reputation  for  un- 
flinching patriotism.  Indeed  it  is  a  sublime  spectacle 
to  see  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  stanch  and  honest,  thus 
standing  resolutely  upon  the  only  sure  foundation. 
It  seems  now  to  be  finally  settled  that  peace,  when 
it  comes,  will  be  brought  about  by  successful  war.  A 
sad  conclusion  this,  but  the  only  one  left  to  the  coun- 
try. Let  prayer  be  offered  up  incessantly,  that  God 
in  his  mercy  may  command  the  turbulent  waves  of  re- 
bellion to  cease,  and  that  we  may  soon  enjoy  an  hon- 
orable, a  just,  and  a  lasting  peace.] 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  217 


XIII. 
HARDER  BLOWS,  AND   MORE  OF  THEM. 

AND  HE  SMOTE  THRICE,  AND  STAYED. — 2  Kings  xiii,  18. 

WE  are  now  called  to  contemplate  the  conduct  of  a 
king  in  the  presence  of  the  aged  prophet  Elisha.  The 
faithful  old  servant,  who  had  led  a  life  of  singular  devo- 
tion to  the  interests  of  religion  and  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel,  who  had  been  greatly  honored  of  God  with 
influence  over  royalty  and  with  miraculous  gifts,  "  was 
fallen  sick  of  his  sickness  whereof  he  died."  The  king- 
dom of  Israel  being  greatly  harassed  by  the  Syrians, 
Joash  the  king  visited  the  holy  seer  in  his  sick  cham- 
ber, not  only  out  of  respect  for  him,  but  to  obtain  some 
of  the  last  rays  of  prophetic  light  touching  the  king- 
dom. The  meeting  was  affecting.  The  king  wept 
over  the  prophet,  using  the  same  significant  language 
in  relation  to  Elisha  that  the  prophet  had  used  in 
relation  to  Elijah  when  he  was  taken  up  to  heaven 
in  a  chariot  of  fire:  "My  father,  my  father,  the 
chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen  thereof;"  inti- 
mating that  he  was  the  strength  and  defense  of  the 
state,  as  well  as  the  great  prompter  and  example  of 
purity  and  progress  to  the  ancient  Church  of  God. 
The  holy  man  had  been  faithful  and  honored  for  a 


218  OUB  COUNTliY  : 

long  lifetime.  His  last  act  was  to  give  lessons  to  the 
king,  which  ought  to  have  prepared  him  better  to 
meet  his  high  responsibilities. 

The  instructions,  as  was  common  with  the  old  Jew- 
ish prophets,  were  communicated  through  symbols. 
The  first  lesson  was  given  by  directing  the  king  to 
take  a  bow  and  arrows,  and  to  shoot  from  the  win- 
dow eastward,  the  venerable  man  putting  his  hands 
upon  the  king's  hands.  The  prophet  then  indicated 
the  import  of  the  act  by  the  words,  "  The  arrow  of 
the  Lord's  deliverance,  and  the  arrow  of  deliverance 
from  Syria;"  and  then  predicted  the  discomfiture  of 
the  Syrians.  He  then  commands  the  king  to  take  the 
arrows  and  "  smite  upon  the  ground,  and  he  smote 
thrice,  and  stayed.  And  the  man  of  God  was  wroth 
with  him,  and  said,  Thou  shouldest  have  smitten  five 
or  six  times ;  then  hadst  thou  smitten  Syria  till  thou 
hadst  consumed  it." 

The  prophet's  object  was  to  test  the  moral  qualities 
of  his  royal  visitor,  and  to  give  such  instructions  as 
the  occasion  might  require. 

By  the  symbolical  act  which  he  dictated,  he 
brought  out  the  king's  insight  into  the  facts  and 
circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded,  the 
strength  and  scope  of  his  desires  and  purposes,  and 
his  faith  in  God.  A  man's  zeal  and  strength  of  heart, 
and  his  general  qualifications  for  a  great  movement, 
will  be  indicated  by  the  tone  of  his  conduct  in  gen- 
eral, and  by  the  smallest  preparatory  arrangements. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS   TRIUMPH.  219 

His  muscular  motions,  his  step,  his  mien,  his  eye,  his 
whole  bearing  show  the  qualities  of  the  soul  he  has 
in  him,  and  lay  a  foundation  for  hope  or  despair  in 
relation  to  his  course  of  life  or  any  great  undertak- 
ing. The  king  "  smote  thrice",  and  stayed.  And  the 
man  of  God  was  wroth." 

Why  was  the  prophet  displeased?  The  king 
showed  himself  a  dull  scholar.  He  should  have 
known  that  his  actions  were  io  indicate  his  qualifica- 
tions for  the  emergencies  before  him,  and  his  success 
in  the  struggle  in  which  he  was  about  to  engage. 
The  prophet's  explanation  of  the  shooting  from  the 
window  ought  to  have  taught  him  so  much  as  this. 
He  should  have  known  that  the  nerve  he  exhibited 
upon  the  occasion  would  be  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
character  of  his  future  administration  and  the  meas- 
ure of  its  success.  In  the  first  instance  the  old 
prophet  summoned  up  all  his  remaining  strength,  and 
put  his  hands  upon  the  king's  hands  and  drew  up  the 
arrow  to  the  very  head,  that  it  might  fly  far  and  indi- 
cate a  mighty  victory.  The  prophet's  hand  was  in 
the  matter  and  the  work  was  well  done.  When  the 
king  was  directed  to  strike  upon  the  ground,  without 
the  prophet's  interference,  if  he  had  been  broad 
awake  he  would  have  said  to  himself,  "  Now- 1  am  to 
show  how  my  work  will  be  done  when  the  old  seer  is 
no  more  and  I  am  left  to  act  alone.  I  must  now 
smite  many  times  and  with  all  my  might,  or  it  will  be 
evident  enough  that  I  shall  make  a  failure."  He 


220  OUK  COUNTRY: 

had  not,  however,  taken  in  the  lesson ;  he  exhibited 
lamentable  dullness.  The  manner  of  his  performing 
the  act  seemed  to  say,  "  What  is  the  use  of  all  this  ? 
The  thing  is  unmeaning.  The  prophet  was  once 
wise,  but  now  he  i§  old  and  foolish.  I  will  do  as 
directed  to  satisfy  the  old  man,  but  it  means  nothing 
and  will  amount  to  nothing." 

Great  dullness  and  little  progress  under  the  best 
teachers,  and  with  the  best  opportunities,  are  enough 
to  kindle  the  ire  of  the  wise  and  the  good.  The 
slothful  and  the  indolent  derive  little  improvement 
from  all  the  lessons  of  wisdom  lavished  upon  them. 
They  "  are  ever  learning  and  never  coming  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth." 

The  king  manifested  little  earnestness  of  spirit. 
Coldness,  slowness  of  motion,  weakness  of  purpose, 
feebleness  and  indecision,  are  great  defects  in  a  ruler, 
and  are  not  compatible  with  great  moral  breadth  and 
strength  in  any  one.  It  is  an  occasion  of  grief  to  the 
wise  and  good  to  see  a  man  in  an  elevated  and  a 
responsible  position  deficient  in  motive  power,  mov- 
ing with  hesitation,  and  devising  half-way  measures. 
Such  give  little  promise  of  success,  and  are  not  can- 
didates for  honorable  distinction.  Be  he  a  civil  or 
military  officer,  a  representative  in  the  legislature  or 
a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  he  will  be  an  occasion  of 
disappointment  and  mortification  to  his  friends ;  but 
this  is  not  all  the  evil  which  will  follow.  Great  pub- 
lic interests  will  be  put  at  hazard,  and  will  prob- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  221 

• 

ably  suffer  serious  damage.  Those  who  may  have 
an  interest  in  the  reputation  of  the  actor,  and 
those  who  may  feel  a  concern  for  the  interest  com- 
mitted to  his  hands,  will  naturally  be  unpleasantly 
affected  by  the  failure  of  the  delinquent  party.  The 
prophet  was  angry  on  both  of  these  accounts.  He 
saw  the  king  was  not  adequate  to  his  position,  and 
was  likely  to  suffer  the  disgrace  of  failure,  and  then 
he  saw  a  still  more  fearful  evil  in  the  sufferings  which 
would  come  upon  his  people,  and  the  disgrace  which 
the  nation  would  suffer. 

The  want  of  nerve  in  a  public  functionary  is  a 
great  disgrace  to  him,  and  often  a  great  public  calam- 
ity. An  irresolute,  a  weak,  or  a  lukewarm  officer  of 
the  civil  government,  or  of  the  army,  may  be  an  occa- 
sion of  great  disaster. 

The  want  of  spirit  in  any  one  is  a  melancholy 
instance  of  shortcoming  and  a  certain  precursor  of 
defeat.  The  young  aspirant  for  fame  or  usefulness 
bids  fair  to  succeed  or  fail,  according  to  the  earnest- 
ness or  half-heartedness  with  which  he  enters  upon 
life's  great  work.  If  he  makes  a  bold  strike  and 
pushes  out  his  plans  with  energy  he  will  probably  suc- 
ceed ;  but  if  he  is  not  more  than  half-resolved  and 
prosecutes  his  schemes  feebly,  he  is  sure  to  fail.  En- 
ergy, confidence  in  himself,  and  decided  measures,  are 
indispensable  prerequisites  to  a  history  that  shall  be 
honorable  to  himself  and  beneficial  to  the  world. 

What  perfect  contrasts  to  the  character  of  King 


222  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

• 

Joash  were  Alexander,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Napoleon 
Bonaparte,  George  "Washington,  Lord  Chatham, 
Martin  Luther,  John  Calvin,  James  Arminius,  John 
"Wesley,  and  Francis  Asbury !  How  largely  decision, 
promptness,  and  energy  entered  into  the  composition 
of  these  historical  characters  need  not  be  proved  by 
particular  facts.  Their  whole  lives  were  made  up  of 
a  continued  series  of  earnest  and  decided  efforts  to 
achieve  great  ends.  In  them  there  was  no  weakness 
of  purpose,  no  hesitation,  no  tardiness,  no  dozing  over 
great  schemes,  no  delaying  until  the  main  chance  was 
lost ;  but  action  was  their  motto,  timely  action,  prompt 
action,  energetic  action,  persevering  action.  One  of 
them,  the  great  Napoleon,  was  accustomed  to  say 
that  he  considered  nothing  done  while  anything 
remained  to  be  done. 

There  was  evident  in  King  Joash  a  great  want  of 
faith.  Had  the  king  been  in  possession  of  a  strong 
faith  he  would  have  appreciated  the  act  dictated  by 
the  prophet.  A  strong  faith  is  of  quick  discernment. 
It  sees  the  hand  of  God  in  everything,  and  it  puts 
importance  upon  the  smallest  things  which  are  mat- 
ters of  divine  direction.  It  presumes  that  there  is 
wisdom  in  what  seems  unmeaning,  if  it  be  a  divine 
requirement.  It  presumes  all  to  be  right  and  wise 
which  God  does  or  requires,  and  acts  in  accordance 
with  that  presumption.  King  Joash,  in  this  case, 
seemed  to  look  no  further  than  the  mere  appearance 
of  a  small  and  simple  act  which,  according  to  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  223 

conclusions  of  human  reason,  was  of  no  significance ; 
whereas,  had  his  faith  been  active,  he  would  have 
said,  "  This  thing  is  of  God,  and  cannot  but  be  full 
of  meaning.  There  must  be  something  in  it  of  inter- 
est to  the  kingdom,  and  of  course  of  interest  to  me 
also."  Such  a  faith  would  have  been  an  inspiration ; 
would  have  assured  him  of  something  sublime  and 
glorious  connected  with  the  simple  act  of  striking  the 
ground  with  the  arrows. 

"  The  things  unknown  to  feeble  sense, 
Unseen  by  reason's  glimmering  ray, 

With  strong  commanding  evidence, 
Their  heavenly  origin  display." 

Faith  not  only  is  eagle-eyed  to  see  God  in  his  word 
and  in  his  works,  but  it  begets  action.  It  is  a  fire  in 
the  soul,  a  mighty  motive-power.  One  who  is  under 
its  inspiration  will  act  with  decision  and  strength. 
"With  him  what  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing 
well.  He  resolves,  and  proceeds  Immediately  to  act, 
and  he  acts  with  heart.  His  soul  is  in  whatever  he 
does.  Faith  produces  works,  and  works  are  the  evi- 
dence of  faith.  "  By  works  is  faith  made  perfect." 
Had  the  old  king  possessed  the  true  faith,  and  pos- 
sessed it  in  sufficient  amount,  he  would  have  smitten 
the  ground  until  he  had  beaten  the  arrows  to  splinters ; 
he  would  with  them  have  jarred  the  earth  and  raised 
a  cloud  of  dust.  There  would  have  been  work  there 
and  a  mighty  clatter  which  would  in  some  measure 
have  represented  the  noise  of  the  battle,  and  a  break- 


224  OUK  COUNTRY: 

ing  to  pieces  of  the  old  Syrian  empire.  But  being 
"  of  little  faith,"  "  he  struck  thrice,  and  stayed." .  The 
old  prophet  was  "  wroth."  The  Hebrew  root  t)?i? 
signifies  to  cut  up,  to  break  in  pieces*  The  man  of 
God  was  "  cut  up."  His  feelings  were  lacerated ;  he 
was  wounded  and  grieved  at  the  king's  shortcomings, 
and  the  consequences  which  he  foresaw. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  apply  the  principles  above 
brought  out  to  our  own  time,  and  the  circumstances 
by  which  we  are  surrounded. 

The  rebellion  against  the  government  has  assumed 
a  magnitude  which  requires  vast  outlays  of -men  and 
money.  Half  measures  but  aggravate  the  evil.  Our 
disasters,  in  all  cases,  have  resulted  from  insufficient 
forces,  or  a  want  of  understanding  the  magnitude  of 
the  emergency.  We  want  no  more  long  pauses  for 
want  of  men ;  we  are  weary  with  being  met  by  "  a 
superior  force."  Let  us  now  give  the  War  Depart- 
ment all  the  men  which  its  necessities  require.  Par- 
simony is  often  waste ;  it  is  especially  so  in  this  case. 
The  more  valiant  soldiers  we  have  in  the  field  the 
less  liable  we  are  to  lose  them.  Liberality  in  the 
supply  is  economy  of  life.  Increase  the  army  to  the 
requisite  strength  and  blood  will  cease  to  flow,  and 
the  war  of  the  rebellion  will  soon  be  brought  to  a 
close.  Let  the  three  hundred  thousand  men  called  for 
by  the  President  be  forthcoming,  and  Jefferson  Davis 
will  soon  enjoy  the  luxury  of  losing  his  precious  life 
*  See  Gesenius's  Hebrew  Lexicon. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  225 

in  bis  experiment  of  a  southern  confederacy.  The 
government  has  a  true  appreciation  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  work  on  hand,  and  is  now  laboring  hard  to 
bring  the  supply  up  fully  to  the  measure  of  the  de- 
mand. The  legislative  and  the  executive  depart- 
ments of  the  government  are  both  straining  every 
nerve  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  hour,  and  nothing 
should  be  in  the  way. 

There  is  in  many  quarters  a  mortal  horror  of  "  the 
draft,"  and  cowards  and  secession  sympathizers  vie 
with  each  other  in  their  efforts  to  avoid  it.  Some 
run,  some  hide,  and  others  risk  their  necks  in  various 
ways  to  avoid  being  shot  on  the  battle-field.  This  is 
all  wrong,  shameful.  lie  who  is  not  willing  to  fight 
for  his  country  ought  not  to  have  a  country ;  and  he 
who  would  sacrifice  the  life  of  his  country  to  save  his 
own  places  a  higher  estimate  upon  his  life  than  any 
one  else  does ;  and  while  he  considers  himself  as  out- 
weighing the  country  that  gives  him  protection,  it  is 
probable  that  history  will  not  consider  his  name 
worthy  of  a  record.  As  to  those  citizens  of  foreign 
birth  who  have  come  to  our  country  to  escape  from, 
oppression  and  to  secure  the  means  of  a  comfortable 
living,  and  have  exercised  the  right  of  voting  at  the 
polls,  who  run  away  and  leave  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren to  work  for  themselves,  especially  young  men 
of  this  class  who  have  no  families  to  provide  for,  lan- 
guage furnishes  110  terms  to  express  the  contempt  in 

which  they  ought  to  be  held.     As  the  draft  is  the 

15 


226  OUK   COUNTRY: 

only  method  by  which  the  army  can  be  reinforced 
with  sufficient  dispatch  to  meet  the  emergencies  of 
the  country,  it  is  unpatriotic  either  to  oppose  or  to 
embarrass  it.  The  necessities  of  the  country  have 
demanded  large  contributions  of  men  and  money, 
and  the  same  necessities  remain.  Why  withhold 
now  when  the  national  arms  are  everywhere  success- 
ful, and  only  another  campaign,  well  sustained  by 
recruits,  and  ably  managed,  as  it  will  no  doubt  be  by 
our  great  army  and  naval  commanders,  will  suffice 
to  bring  the  rebellion  to  a  close. 

It  would  undoubtedly  be  preferable  to  replenish 
the  army  by  enlistments  if  the  thing  were  feasible; 
but  the  demand  is  urgent;  time  is  everything  in  a 
campaign.  There  must  be  no  delay ;  there  can  be 
none  without  peril  to  the  country's  cause.  A  large 
reinforcement  of  the  army  is  absolutely  necessary, 
and  if  the  necessity  is  not  met  by  volunteering,  the 
government  must  resort  to  compulsion  ;  and  what 
plan  could  be  devised  more  equitable  to  decide 
the  question  as  to  who  shall  go  into  the  service  than 
by  lot  ?  If  a  draft  must  be  made,  then  all  must  be 
drafted,  or  a  part.  If  only  a  part  of  the  able-bodied 
men  subject  to  military  duty  are  needed,  how  shall 
the  question  be  settled,  who  the  fortunate  men  shall 
be  who  shall  have  the  honor  of  periling  their  lives 
for  their  country,  if  not  by  the  method  which  the 
government  has  adopted,  and  which  meets  with  the 
approval  of  all  civilized  nations?  Jefferson  Davis  con- 


ITS  TEIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  227 

scripts  all,  from  sixteen  to  fifty-five ;  we  only  take  one 
sixth,  from  twenty-one  to  forty-five.  Surely  if  it  is 
a  hardship  to  be  a  patriot,  it  is  a  much  greater  hard- 
ship to  be  a  rebel ;  and  if  the  people  of  the  rebellious 
states  submit  to  a  merciless,  indiscriminate  conscrip- 
tion of  all  who  have  physical  strength  to  carry  a 
gun,  surely  we  ought  not  to  complain  if  the  gov- 
ernment, in  an  equitable  way,  selects  a  portion  of 
such  as  are  capable  of  military  duty  to  meet  the 
exigencies  of  this  great  war.  Come  on,  fellow- 
citizens,  there  is  no  time  for  paltering ;  now  is 
the  time  to  strike ;  heavy  blows  now  will  do  the 
work. 

Again,  let  it  be  observed  that  the  demand  of  the 
times  upon  our  army  and  navy  is  for  great  skill  and 
great  bravery.  The  cause  of  the  country,  thank 
God,  is  not  likely  to  suffer  from  a  deficiency  in  the 
leadership.  At  present  we  have  at  the  head  of  the 
army  one  whom  Providence  seems  to  have  raised  up  for 
the  emergency,  and'  he  is  sustained  by  officers  little 
inferior  to  himself.  While  Grant,  Sherman,  Thomas, 
and  Sheridan  are  in  the  field,  and  Farragut  and  Por- 
ter are  leading  on  the  navy,  we  have  little  more  to 
desire  in  the  way  of  leadership.  Many  other  names 
are  entitled  to  be  placed  in  the  category  of  meritori- 
ous and  distinguished  officers  who  have  the  full  confi- 
dence of  the  country,  and  have  already  won  for 
themselves  a  name  in  history.  With  such  leaders  at 
the  head  of  our  brave  boys  we  do  not  anticipate  a 


228  OUR  COUNTRY: 

failure.  Failure  there  cannot  be  with  such  a  cause 
as  we  have ;  but  we  want  early  success,  complete  suc- 
cess, success  with  as  little  loss  as  possible  in  over- 
throwing the  rebellion. 

The  spirit  of  the  army  and  navy  is.  good,  the  brav- 
ery of  our  troops  is  without  a  parallel,  our  command- 
ers were  never  excelled  in  the  annals  of  war ;  and  now 
what  is  wanted  is  heavy  blows  and  a  great  many  of 
them,  and  this  is  what  we  shall  have.  We  want  such 
blows  as  were  struck  at  Fort  Donelson,  at  New 
Orleans,  at  Yicksburg,  in  Georgia,  at  Nashville,  in 
the  Shenandoah,  and  at  Fort  Fisher.  Such  blows 
we  want  struck  at  Mobile,  at  Charleston,  and  at 
Richmond.  At  the  last-named  place  we  hope  ere 
long  to  see  the  finishing  stroke  given. 

The  present  crisis  calls  for  harder  blows,  and  more 
of  them.  Let  this  be  our  motto.  We  want  substan- 
tial victories,  not  such  as  the  rebels  have  had  hund- 
reds of.  They  report  their  victories  dayly,  but 
through  some  mysterious  cause  they  are  all  "  without 
results ;"  they  are  either  just  where  they  were  before, 
or  "  a-  little  back  of  their  old  lines."  Nor  do  we 
want  such  victories  as  several  which  we  have  had  on 
our  side.  Such,  for  instance,  as  those  of  "  the  seven 
days'  fight "  down  from  Richmond,  wrhen,  although 
the  general  in  command  whipped  Lee  and  Jackson 
every  day,  he  "  fell  back  every  night "  to  find  "  a 
more  advantageous  base." 

Indeed,  we  want  something  a  little  different  from 


ITS  TKIAL  AXD   ITS  TRIUMPH.  229 

the  victories  of  Antietam  and  Gettysburg!!.  There 
"they  smote  thrice  and  stayed."  The  rebels  were 
whipped,  but  got  away;  they  should  have  been 
"  smitten  until  they  were  consumed."  Following  up 
one  blow  with  another  in  quick  succession  is  the 
secret  of  telling  victories.  This  striking  and  then 
staying  is  not  the  thing ;  we  want  more  unconditional 
surrenders.  That  must  be  the  watchword  at  Wil- 
mington, at  Mobile,  at  Charleston,  and  at  Richmond. 
Hannibal,  one  of  the  greatest  captains  of  ancient 
story,  crossed  the  Alps  with  a  vast  army  of  his  Car- 
thaginians and  beat  the  Romans  in  four  great  battles. 
The  last  of  the  four  was  that  of  Cannae,  upon  which 
the  old  historian,  Collier,  remarks :  "  A  prodigious 
victory,  the  consequences  whereof  must  have  been 
the  ruin  and  downfall  of  the  Roman  commonwealth 
had  Hannibal  known  how  to  use  it ;  but  instead  of 
going  straight  to  Rome  he  went  to  Capua,  where  he 
wintered,  and  the  delights  of  the  place  debauched  his 
whole  army,  while  the  Romans  recovered  themselves." 
The  result  of  this  relaxation  of  his  zeal,  of  staying  his 
hands,  was  his  retreat  from  Italy  and  the  destruction 
of  Carthage. 

It  has  not  been  the  method  of  Grant,  Sherman, 
and  Thomas  to  strike  thrice  and  then  stay,  and,  after 
the  example  of  the  Garth  aginian  general,  allow  their 
troops  to  indulge  in  ease  and  luxuries  until  they 
become  demoralized,  and  the  rebels  have  time  to 
recover  their  strength  and  begin  another  campaign 


230  OUR  COUNTRY: 

with  invigorated  and  largely  increased  forces.  Grant 
is  holding  Lee's  great  army  at  Richmond,  Sherman 
is  moving  upon  Charleston,  and  Thomas  upon  Mobile. 
These  winter  campaigns  in  the  South  and  Southwest 
bid  fair  to  terminate  the  rebellion  in  that  direction 
within  the  next  few  months,  so  we  now  hope  and 
believe. 

The  enemy  must  have  no  time  to  rest  and  recuper- 
ate. The  pursuit  must  be  ardent  and  close ;  'blow 
must  follow  blow  in  quick  succession.  Let  the  tread 
of  our  cavalry,  the  huzzas  of  our  brave  boys,  and  the 
thunder  of  our  cannon,  haunt  the  rebel  armies  day  and 
night,  and  hurry  them  from  one  retreat  to  another, 
until  they  are  captured,  surrender,  or  are  "con- 
sumed." Now,  brave  fellows, 

"  Strike  1 

Strike  for  your  altars  and  your  fires ! 
God  and  your  native  land." 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  231 


XIV. 
THE  SECESSION  DEVIL. 

THIS  KIND  GOETH  NOT  OUT  BUT  BY  PRAYER  AND  PASTING. 

Matt,  xvii,  21. 

THE  existence  of  invisible,  malignant  beings,  who 
exercise  an  injurious  influence  over  the  moral  char- 
acter and  happiness  of  mankind,  is  directly  or  indi- 
rectly acknowledged  by  all  religions.  It  is  also  as 
generally  presumed  that  it  is  the  work  of  religion 
to  counteract  this  influence.  The  appropriate  and 
effective  provisions  for  the  accomplishment  of  this 
great  and  good  object  are,  however,  only  to  be  found 
in  Christianity. 

It  seems  that  demons  were  permitted  anciently  to 
exercise  an  influence  over  the  bodies  of  men,  though 
this  power,  since  the  general  spread  of  the  Gospel, 
has  been  restrained.  *As  to  the  particular  reasons  for 
the  difference  in  this  respect  I  shall  not  at  present  be 
curious  to  inquire.  But  that  the  demoniacal  posses- 
sions of  which  we  have  so  many  accounts  in  the  New 
Testament  history  were  realities,  and  not,  as  some 
insist,  mere  diseases,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
these  demons  often  conversed  and  reasoned,  desired 
and  feared.  These  acts  could  scarcely  be  attributed 
to  diseases  in  the  most  impassioned  poetry ;  but  to 


232  OUR  COUNTRY: 

introduce  them  into  sober  narrative  would  be  an 
absurdity  that  would  hardly  find  a  parallel. 

Several  of  the  fathers  supposed  that  the  word  yevog, 
kind,  referred  to  the  whole  genus  of  devils.  The 
same  view  is  taken  of  the  subject  by  Dr.  S.  Clarke 
among  the  older,  and  by  Dr.  Bloomfield  among  the 
recent  English  commentators.  Others,  as  Doddridge, 
Coke,  and  Benson,  suppose  that  this  hypothesis  does 
not  account  for  the  disappointment  of  the  apostles  in 
not  being  able  to  eject  this  devil,  nor  for  the  answer 
given  by  our  Lord  to  their  inquiry.  Why  some 
devils  should  be  more  obstinate  and  difficult  to  eject 
than  others  is  not  easy  to  perceive ;  and  yet  there  is 
nothing  in  the  fact  any  more  inconsistent  with  reason 
than  that  these  malignant  powers  should  at  all  com- 
mune with  the  minds  of  men  and  exercise  an  influ- 
ence over  them. 

"  This  demon,"  says  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  "  may  be  con- 
sidered an  emblem  of  deeply  rooted  vices  and  inveterate 
habits,  over  which  the  conquest  is  not  generally 
obtained  but  through  extraordinary  humiliations." 
This  is  a  practical  view  of  the  subject  which  is  both 
reasonable  and  safe.  He  who  would  root  out  cher- 
ished lusts  and  long-established  habits  undertakes  no 
ordinary  work,  and  stands  in  need  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary preparation. 

What  are  the  evils  which  we  as  a  nation  most 
severely  suffer  from  at  the  present  ? 

Is  there  not  a  fearful  amount  of  ignorance  among 


ITS  TRIAL  AXD  ITS  TRIUMPH.  233 

the  great  mass  of  our  population?  I  mean  not 
merely  ignorance  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  for  this 
species  of  ignorance  sometimes  consists  with  a  high 
degree  of  moral  worth ;  but  more  especially  ignorance 
of  the  great  principles  and  requirements  of  religion, 
and  of  the  duties,  responsibilities,  rights,  and  priv- 
ileges of  citizens.  These  two  branches  of  this  deadly 
upas  always  unite  in  the  same  trunk,  and  are  always, 
so  far  as  they  exert  an  influence,  destructive  of  the 
best  interests  of  society.  But  we  not  only  have  an 
abundance  of  this  evil  among  us  which  is  of  native 
growth,  but  vast  masses  of  it  are  constantly  drifting 
upon  our  shores  from  the  old  world,  and  the  whole 
combining  lies  like  an  incubus  upon  the  very  vitals 
of  the  body  politic.  Our  institutions  cannot  be  pre- 
served in  safety  and  prosperity  by  ignorance.  They 
are,  indeed,  eminently  imperiled  by  the  prevalence  of 
this  curse  of  the  human  soul,  and  especially  so  when 
it  is  united  with  a  superstitious  veneration  for  corrupt 
forms  of  religion  and  implicit  obedience  to  a  design- 
ing priesthood.  And  who  does  not  see  that  there  is 
enough  of  this  deadly  leaven  in  our  country  to  work 
our  ruin  unless  by  some  efficient  remedy  it  shall 
speedily  be  neutralized  ? 

Is  not  infidelity  sadly  prevalent  in  our  country  ? 
This  evil  takes  various  hues,  according  to  its  various 
associations.  We  sometimes  see  it  assume  the  garb 
of  philosophy,  at  other  times  that  of  politics,  and  still 
at  others  that  of  the  most  degrading  vice.  Philosoph- 


234:  OUR  COUNTRY: 

ical  infidelity  is  reason  run  mad ;  political  infidelity 
is  liberty  without  restraint ;  and  vulgar  infidelity  is 
a  full  license  of  the  grosser  passions.  Whatever  its 
form,  it  is  the  same  enemy  to  the  improvement  and 
happiness  of  man.  A  nation  of  infidels  could  not 
long  exist.  It  would  very  soon  burst  like  a  bubble, 
and  be  numbered  among  the  things  that  were.  And 
this  obstinate  demon  is  lurking  about  in  all  directions; 
and  though  he  may  cover  himself  with  the  garb  of 
religion,  he  is  no  less  a  devil  at  heart,  nor  any  less 
dangerous  to  the  public  weal.  I  need  not  tell  you 
that  this  malignant  spirit  has  shown  himself  in  the 
high  places  of  power  as  well  as  in  the  haunts  of  vice 
and  dissipation  ;  that  he  has  his  trained  bands  firmly 
organized  and  regularly  disciplined;  that  he  has 
seized  upon  the  press,  and  has  flooded  the  country 
with  books,  pamphlets,  and  periodicals,  containing 
the  most  alarming  developments  of  his  real  malignity ; 
that  he  has  turned  tract  distributer,  missionary, 
prophet,  and  what  not;  that  he  has  actually  com- 
passed sea  and  land  to  make  proselytes.  All  this  is 
perfectly  notorious.  At  present  the  monster  seems  to 
have  secreted  himself;  but  he  is  still  alive,  and  only 
waits  a  fair  opportunity  to  make  new  demonstrations 
of  his  utter  hostility,  not  only  to  Christianity,  but  to 
the  very  existence  of  the  social  compact. 

Does  not  pride  exist  to  an  alarming  extent  among 
us  ?  We  need  not  attempt  to  trace  out  and  identify 
this  evil  in  all  its  various  forms.  It  will  be  sufficient 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  235 

* 

to  notice  it  as  it  influences  individuals,  as  it  affects 
the  national  character,  and  as  it  shows  itself  in  our 
religion.  We  may  call  individual  pride  decency 
and  self-respect,  national  pride  a  patriotic  concern 
for  the  nation's  honor,  and  religious  pride  a  pious 
regard  to  the  decencies  of  divine  institutions ;  but  it 
is  still  the  same  accursed  thing,  which  the  Lord  ab- 
hors. And  where  are  the  footsteps  of  this  rebellious 
demon  not  seen  ?  I  need  not  point  you  to  his  infalli- 
ble tokens  ;  they  are  everywhere  displayed  before  the 
gaze  of  earth  and  heaven. 

Nor  should  it  be  necessary  to  premonish  you  of  its 
ruinous  consequences.  The  word  of  God  and  the 
pages  of  history  are  replete  with  instructions  upon 
the  subject.  History,  it  is  said,  is  philosophy  teach- 
ing by  example.  Let  us,  then,  through  this  medium 
look  at  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Tyre,  Greece,  and  Rome, 
and  learn  that  "he  who  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased ;"  that  "  pride  goeth  before  destruction,  and  a 
haughty  spirit  before  a  fall."  Let  us  mark  the  fate 
of  Sennacherib,  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  of  Herod, 
and  remember  that  the  same  God  who  in  these  in- 
stances eminently  punished  pride,  still  reigns,  and 
has  the  same  abhorrence  of  this  accursed  principle. 

Is  not  selfishness  a  ruling  principle  among  us !  By 
selfishness  I  do*  not  mean  a  due  regard  to  our  own 
best  interests :  this  is  so  far  from  being  wrong  that 
it  is  enforced  by  the  obligations  of  religion.  But  I 
refer  to  private  ends  arrayed  against  the  general 


236  OUR  COUNTRY : 

*• 

good.  And  liow  lias  this  principle  shown  itself,  not 
only  in  the  various  departments  of  business,  and  in 
political  maneuvers,  but  even  in  our  benevolent  en- 
terprises !  How  common  is  it,  when  a  politician  be- 
comes extremely  jealous  of  the  liberties  of  the  country 
and  of  the  rights  of  his  fellow-citizens,  for  him  to  be 
suspected  of  some  little  regard  to  the  loaves  and 
fishes  of  office !  And  is  not  this  suspicion  founded 
on  a  numerous  class  of  facts,  which  give  but  too 
strong  ground  for  a  correct  induction  ?  Witness  the 
violations  of  public  confidence  upon  the  part  of  this 
class  of  men,  and  especially  the  peculations  and  de- 
falcations of  public  functionaries,  which  are  by  no 
means  strange  events. 

I  have  noticed  but  a  small  portion  of  this  species 
of  evil.  We  cannot  go  into  detail  without  becoming 
lost  in  the  maze.  Who  can  look  away  from  dear  self 
and  seek  the  good  of  the  whole,  losing  his  own  inter- 
est in  the  general  welfare  ?  Such  individuals,  thank 
God,  there  are ;  but  certainly  they  are  quite  too  rare 
for  the  honor  and  prosperity  of  our  beloved  country. 

Is  not  avarice  a  prevailing  vice  in  this  land  ?  This 
is  a  species  under  the  genus  selfishness ;  but  it  figures 
so  largely  as  to  require  separate  notice.  What  an 
excitement!  what  a  stir!  what  a  rage  does  this  mis- 
erable demon  constantly  keep  up !  Is  it  any  wronder 
that  intelligent  travelers  suppose  mammon  to  be  the 
god  of  the  Americans  ?  M.  de  Tocqueville,  an  intel- 
ligent Frenchman,  says : 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  237 

"A  native  of  the  United  States  clings  to  this 
world's  goods  as  if  he  were  certain  never  to  die ;  and 
he  is  so  hasty  at  grasping  at  all  within  his  reach,  that 
one  would  suppose  he  was  constantly  afraid  of  not 
living  long  enough  to  enjoy  them.  He  clutches 
everything,  he  holds  nothing  fast,  but  soon  loosens 
his  grasp  to  pursue  fresh  gratifications.  A  man 
builds  a  house  to  spend  his  later  years  in,  and  sells 
it  before  the  roof  is  on :  he  plants  a  garden,  and  lets 
it  just  as  the  trees  are  coming  into  bearing:  he  brings 
a  field  into  tillage,  and  leaves  other  men  to  gather 
the  crops  :  he  embraces  a  profession,  and  gives  it  up  : 
he  settles  in  a  place  which  he  soon  after  leaves  to 
carry  his  changeable  longings  elsewhere.  If  his 
private  affairs  leave  him  any  leisure,  he  instantly 
plunges  into  the  vortex  of  politics  :  and  if  at  the  end 
of  a  year  of  unremitting  labor  he  finds  he  has  a  few 
days'  vacation,  his  eager  curiosity  whirls  him  over 
the  vast  extent  of  the  United  States,  and  he  will 
travel  fifteen  hundred  miles  in  a  few  days  to  shake 
off  his  happiness.  Death  at  length  overtakes  him, 
but  it  is  before  he  is  weary  of  his  bootless  chase  of 
that  complete  felicity  which  is  ever  on  the  wing." 
All  we  can  say  to  this  is,  that  it  is  but  too  true  a 
picture  of  what  is  every  day  passing  before  our  eyes. 

All  these  are  personal  sins  which  involve  personal 
guilt,  but  they  may  become  so  general  as  to  bring 
down  the  vengeance  of  God  upon  the  whole  land. 
In  addition  to  those  individual  delinquencies,  we 


238  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

have  great  national  sins,  for  which  God  holds  us 
accountable  as  a  nation;  and  as  nations,  as  such, 
cannot  be  punished  in  the  world  to  come,  we  are 
fearfully  amenable  to  national  judgments,  which  are 
the  ordinary  means  by  which  national  offenses  are 
punished. 

I  am  not  aware  that,  as  a  nation,  we  have  been 
guilty  of  the  violation  of  national  law  to  the  injury 
of  weaker  powers.  Although  we  have  no  occasion 
fpr  humiliation  on  this  account,  we  have  occasion  for 
deep  repentance  on  account  of  wrongs  done  to  classes 
of  men  over  whose  destiny  we  have  had  absolute 
control. 

The  first  instance  of  national  sin  which  I  notice 
here  is  gross  injustice  to  the  aborigines  of  this  coun- 
try. The  poor  natives  of  the  soil  have  been  driven 
from  their  homes  and  the  graves  of  their  fathers,  and 
one  compulsory  remove  after  another,  westward,  has 
brought  them  into  many  sad  extremities,  and  to  the 
very  verge  of  despair.  The  government  has  not 
always  kept  the  faith  of  treaties  with  these  boor  sav- 
ages. Too  often  have  voracious  land-pirates  and  un- 
scrupulous state  authorities  found  the  means  of  using 
the  United  States  government  as  a  tool  for  the 
achievement  of  stupendous  robberies  inflicted  upon 
the  native  tribes.  As  a  nation  we  have  to  plead 
guilty  to  this  fearful  indictment,  and  throw  ourselves 
upon  the  mercy  of  the  court  of  heaven.  Under  later 
administrations  the  government  has  been  exerting 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  239 

itself  commendably  to  make  amends  for  former  errors, 
and  has,  to  a  great  extent,  regained  the  confidence  of 
the  Indian  tribes  nearest  to  the  borders  of  civiliza- 
tion. Still  it  would  not  be  wise  in  us  to  ignore  the 
fact  of  former  wrongs. 

Another  instance  of  national  transgression  is  that 
of  the  enslavement  of  the  African  race.  It  is  true, 
that  African  slavery  had  its  origin,  in  this  country, 
before  our  existence  as  an  independent  nation  com- 
menced; that  African  slavery  was  an  inheritance  left 
to  us  by  the  mother  country.  We,  however,  have  fear- 
ful responsibilities  in  the  matter.  Although  fenced 
in  by  state  rights,  the  whole  country  has  been  involved 
in  the  responsibility  in  .various  ways.  The  institu- 
tion of  slavery  has  been  our  great  national  sin,  and 
our  greatest  disgrace.  This  sin  has  brought  upon  us 
the  judgments  of  God  with  almost  crushing  weight. 

Thank  God,  this  national  crime  and  national  curse  is 
about  to  be  wiped  out.  President  Lincoln's  proclama- 
tion, emancipating  all  the  slaves  in  the  rebellious  states, 
and  the  passage  of  the  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
by  a  two  thirds  vote  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  pro- 
hibiting slavery,  or  involuntary  servitude,  except  for 
crime,  throughout  the  United  States,  have  relieved  the 
general  government  of  all  further  responsibility  in 
the  matter.  Now,  if  a  majority  of  three  fourths  of 
the  legislatures  of  the  several  states  pass  the  amend- 
ment, slavery  ceases  tb  exist  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  the  requisite  majority 


240  OUR  COUNTRY: 

of  the  state  legislatures  will  do  themselves  the  credit 
to  pass  the  amendment  and  so  end  the  accursed  insti- 
tution of  slavery  in  the  country.  If  the  amendment. 
.  should  not  obtain  the  sanction  of  the  states,  the  guilt 
of  the  institution  will  no  longer  be  national,  but  will 
rest  upon  the  heads  of  the  delinquent  states. 

There  is  one  monster  devil  with  which  the  nation 
is  tortured  which  must  be  placed  prominently  as  the 
great  evil  of  these  times.  This  is  the  SECESSION  DEVIL. 

Other  evil  spirits  give  us  great  trouble,  but  this 
one  the  most  of  all,  because  he  is  the  most  obstinate, 
the  most  malignant,  and  the  most  destructive  of  them 
all. 

The  secession  devil  is  a  rebellious  devil. 

He  rebels  against  law  and  order,  against  laws 
which  God  has  ordained,  laws  which  the  people  have 
enacted,  and  laws  which  he  has  sworn  -to  keep.  He 
despises  the  Constitution,  tramples  upon  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  and  sets  at  naught  all  legiti- 
mate authority,  human  and  divine. 

He  is  an  ambitious  devil. 

He  is,  I  suspect,  that  very  devil  whom  Milton 
reports  to  have  said  that  he  "had  rather  reign  in 
hell  than  serve  in  heaven."  He  seeks  dominion,  he 
loves  the  highest  places,  he  aspires  to  absolute  power. 
He  says,  "  If  he  had  a  thousand  lives  he  would  sacri- 
fice them  all  rather  than  not  establish  his  rebel  king- 
dom." 

He  is  a  lying  devil. 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 

He  carries  on  his  old  game  of  deception.  In  old 
times  he  tempted  mother  Eve  with  the  forbidden 
fruit,  and  said,  "  Ye  shall  not  surely  die,"  but  eat  the 
fruit  and  "  ye  shall  be  as  gods."  So  still  he  deceives 
the  people  with  his  lies.  He  tells  them  that  seces- 
sion is  right,  is  wise,  and  that  if  they  hold  out  a  little 
longer  England  and  France  will  acknowledge  their 
independence,  and  the  federal  government  will  ac- 
knowledge it  too.  He  tells  them  that  he  has  the 
best  of  it  in  every  battle,  and  what  he  loses  is  not 
worth  having.  These  and  a  thousand  other  lies  he 
thrusts  down  the  throats  of  his  vassals,  and  some  of 
them  think  it  all  true  as  preaching. 

He  is  a  thieving  devil. 

He  stole  the  government  property.  He  plunders  the 
people,  even  his  own  dear  subjects,  and  tells  them  to 
charge  all  to  the  necessities  of  the  state ;  he  steals 
cotton  to  pay  his  confederate  loan ;  in  fact,  lays  his 
hands  on  whatever  he  wants,  no  matter  whose  it  is, 
or  however  needy  its  owner. 

He  is  a  wuel  devil. 

His  heartless  cruelty  is  seen  in  the  blood  he  has 
caused  to  be  shed  for  the  establishment  of  his  slave 
confederacy,  in  the  widows  and  orphans  he  has  made, 
the  hearths  he  has  desolated,  the  broken  hearts,  the 
tears  and  sighs  which  he  has  occasioned  for  a  bauble. 
In  old  times  this  devil  had  great  power  over  his 
subjects,  and  inflicted,  upon  them  great  tortures.  He 

threw  them  down ;   they  cried  out,  they  were  con- 

16 


242 


OUR  COUNTRY: 


vulsed,  they  foamed,  they  wallowed  in  the  dirt.  The 
torments  which  he  inflicts  upon  those  whom  he  pos- 
sesses now  are  not  inferior  to  those  which  he  inflicted 
then.  If  ever  there  was  a  people  "  scattered  and 
peeled,"  plundered,,  whipped,  thrown  down,  and 
rolled  in  the  mud,  bedraggled,  booted,  and  skinned, 
they  are  the  victims  of  secession. 

He  is  a  mean  devil. 

Of  old  he  entered  into  the  swine.',  now  he  inhabits 
guerrillas,  his  tenements  growing  more  and  more 
despicable.  He  repudiates  his  bonds,  robs  the  poor 
to  feed  his  soldiers,  and  deals  in  contemptible  arts  to 
keep  up  a  show  of  nobility. 

Finally,  he  is  a  religious  devil. 

This  strange  devil  prays  and  fasts  and  keeps 
thanksgivings.  In  the  days  of  Christ  this  same  evil 
spirit  exhibited  his  proclivities  in  the  Pharisees, 
"  making  long  prayers  at  the  corners  of  the  streets," 
and  fasting,  to  be  seen  of  men.  Now  he  prays  for 
the  triumph  of  the  rebellion,  and  for  the  destruction 
of  the  Union  troops  and  the  Union  cause. 

These  pious  devils  are  the  worst  that  ever  came  to 
this  poor  unfortunate  world.  They  have  a  conscience, 
and  who  dare  oppose  the  dictates  of  conscience? 
They  talk  of  the  obligations  of  religion,  and  in  the 
sacred  name  of  religion  they  break  every  precept  of  the 
decalogue.  See  how  pious  these  rebels  are.  Surely, 
says  the  simple  dupe,  God  must  be  on  their  side. 
The  devil  prayed  to  Christ,  saying,  "  Let  us  alone ; 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  243 

why  art  thou  come  to  torment  us  before  the  time  2" 
The  secession  demon  makes  the  same  prayer  to  the 
Yankee  government :  "  Let  us  alone ;  why  are  you 
come  to  trouble  us  ?  I  adjure  you  by  God  that  ye 
torment  me  not."  All  in  character,  praying  and 
swearing  mixed  together. 

We  have  now  noticed  "  seven  abominations,"  as 
many  as  there  were  devils  in  Mary  Magdalene,  which 
more  or  less  involve  the  national  character.  The 
whole  together  may  be  "  called  legion,  for  they  are 
many ;"  and  they  are  most  obstinate  and  inveterate 
in  their  character.  They  are  strongly  posted,  and 
will  never  yield  to  mild  measures.  He  who  would 
eradicate  any  one  of  them  must  gird  himself  for  a 
strong  effort,  and  certainly  if  we  would  engage  them 
all  we  need  most  solemn  preparation. 

We  come  to  inquire  into  the  means  by  which 
these  evils  may  be  successfully  encountered. 

But  before  we  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  the  true 
remedy,  let  us  glance  at  sundry  unauthorized  means 
which  are  often  resorted  to  for  the  cure  of  national 
evils. 

Political  changes  are  often  relied  upon.  Were  we 
to  believe  our  pseudo-patriots,  we  might  expect  that 
a  change  in  the  administration  of  the  government 
would  sweep  all  the  disorders  of  the  land,  moral, 
political,  and  physical,  into  eternal  annihilation.  If 
we  only  mind  them,  they  would  fain  have  us  expect 
for  ourselves  and  our  children,  health,  peace,  wealth, 


244  OUR  COUNTRY: 

and  happiness  forever.  But  though  such  changes 
might  be  really  important,  they  by  no  means  reach 
the  foundations  and  sources  of  the  mischief.  The 
evils  are  of  a  moral  character,  and  will  yield  only  to 
moral  remedies. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  course  taken  by  blind 
zealots.  They  fall  upon  those  they  deem  in  error 
with  hard  names  and  abusive  epithets,  and  think 
thus  to  drive  the  devil  out  of  them.  But  their  course 
and  their  success  are  very  much  like  those  of  "  cer- 
tain vagabond  Jews "  who  attempted  to  imitate  the 
apostles  in  the  exercise  of  their  miraculous  powers. 
"  They  took  upon  them  to  call  over  them  which  had 
evil  spirits  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  saying,  "We 
adjure  you  by  Jesus,  whom  Paul  preacheth."  But 
"  the  evil  spirit  answered  and  said,  Jesus  I  know,  and 
Paul  I  know ;  but  who  are  ye  ?  And  the  man  in 
whom  the  evil  spirit  was,  leaped  on  them,  and  over- 
came them,  so  that  they  fled  out  of  that  house  naked 
and  wounded."  Now  upon  this  instructive  piece  of 
history  we  may  observe,  first,  that  they  proceeded 
without  any  authority ;  and,  secondly,  the  result  was 
that  the  devil  triumphed,  and  they  were  most  miser  - 
ably  disgraced. 

But  men  may  really  have  a  good  end  in  view,  and 
may  be  influenced  by  an  ardent  zeal,  and  yet  only 
prejudice  the  cause  by  the  manner  in  which  they 
undertake  to  accomplish  it.  In  all  cases  when  self- 
styled  reformers  undertake  to  remedy  evils  in  their 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS   TRIUMPH.  245 

own  strength,  and  by  their  own  wisdom,  the  devil  is 
more  than  a  match  for  them.  He  falls  upon  them 
without  giving  up  his  pvey,  and  so  the  evil  is  aggra- 
vated in  the  subject,  and  reacts  upon  the  self- 
prompted  instrument  of  deliverance. 

How  much  of  empiricism  is  there  in  religion  and 
politics !  For  reigning  evils  there  are  many  nos- 
trums prescribed.  The  press  teems  with  infallible 
cures  for  all  the  disorders  of  the  times;  but  how 
many  patients  die  under  the  treatment  of  empirics 
perhaps  will  only  be  known  in  the  great  day  of  final 
reckoning.  They  promise  us  long  life  and  good 
days ;  but  let  us  beware,  there  may  be  "  death  in 
the  pot."  All  these  experiments  are  as  unnecessary 
as  they  are  dangerous,  for  a  remedy,  a  sovereign 
remedy,  is  at  hand. 

The  only  remedy  for  the  disorders  of  the  human 
heart  is  the  abounding  grace  of  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ.  The  means  then  by  which  this  grace  is 
obtained  and  made  to  bear  directly  upon  the  disease 
is  the  matter  of  inquiry. 

The  leading  condition  is  an  operative  faith. 

Our  Saviour  tells  the  disciples  that  the  reason  they 
could  not  eject  the  devil,  in  the  case  delineated,  was 
"because  of  their  unbelief;"  and  then  proceeds  to 
say,  "  Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  If  ye  have  'faith  as  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say  unto  this  moun- 
tain, Remove  hence  to  yonder  place ;  and  it  shall 
remove ;  and  nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you." 


246  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

It  is  probable  our  Lord  here  refers  primarily  to  the 
faith  of  miracles^  the  smallest  amount  of  which 
should  be  sufficient  to  remove  the  greatest  obstacles. 
But  in  a  more  general  application  of  the  text,  "  faith 
as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed  "  may,  as  Dr.  Clarke  says, 
import  "  a  growing,  active  faith." 

The  faith  of  the  Church  is  the  great  conservative 
principle,  upon  which  depend  the  hopes  and  happi- 
ness of  a  lost  world.  I  speak  not  now  of  the  faith  of 
miracles.  This,  for  wise  reasons,  long  since  ceased 
from  the  Church.  I  speak  of  that  vital  energy 
which  gives  efficiency  to  the  instituted  means  of 
grace,  and  arms  the  Church  against  the  charms  of 
the  world  and  the  powers  of  hell.  Its  essential  prin- 
ciples are  a  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  a 
submission  to  the  terms  of  salvation,  and  a  trust  in 
the  promises  of  God.  This  faith  fails  not  to  regulate 
both  the  heart  and  life,  and  to  give  effect  to  all  God'a 
appointed  means  for  the  melioration  of  human  con- 
dition. 

The  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  pronounces 
the  greatest  eulogium  upon  this  faith  that  can  be 
conceived,  by  simply  giving  us  a  view  of  some  of  its 
achievements.  He  defines  it  in  the  outset  by  giving 
us  a  view  of  its  practical  workings.  "  Now,"  says  he, 
"  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen."  He  then  proceeds  to  set 
before  us  an  array  of  the  most  sublime  examples  of  it 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  247 

recorded  in  the  sacred  story.  In  these  we  have  prac- 
tical demonstrations  of  the  power  and  efficacy  of  this 
great  leading  principle  of  Christianity. 

Nor  is  this  faith  any  less  necessary  for  us  than  it 
was  for  the  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  apostles  of  olden 
time.  "We  can  neither  do  anything  toward  working 
out  our  own  salvation,  or  helping  to  reclaim  others, 
without  the  constant  action  of  a  vital  faith.  "Without 
this  our  arm  will  be  nerveless  and  all  our  efforts  fruit- 
less. The  devil  will  withstand  us  at  every  point  and 
foil  us  in  every  struggle.  And  how  will  go  the  war 
that  the  American  Church  has  waged  against  the 
numerous  forms  of  vice  which  are  prevalent  in  our 
land,  unless  she  is  deeply  imbued  with  faith  ?  Alas, 
she  will  come  out  of  the  battle  "  naked  and  wounded," 
and  hell  will  hold  a  day  of  rejoicing.  Hear  the 
blessed  Saviour  say,  "  Have  faith  in  God."  Hear 
him  expostulating  with  us,  "  Why  is  it  that  ye  have 
no  faith?"  "Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little 
faith  2"  In  a  conflict  with  the  devil  all  human  power 
is  mocked,  and  reason  utterly  confounded.  How 
will  the  Church  "  wrestle  against  flesh  and  blood  and 
principalities  and  powers,  and  against  spiritual  wick- 
edness in  high  places,"  without  a  strong  hold  upon 
"  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob  ?"  Truly  this  is  her  only 
hope ! 

The  next  condition  necessary  to  secure  divine  help 
is  prayer. 

Prayer  is  the  offering  up  of  the  desires  of  the  heart 


248  OUR  COUNTRY: 

to  God ;  it  is  the  soul's  converse  with  the  Invisible ; 
and  it  is  acceptable  only  when  associated  with  the 
faith  of  which  we  have  spoken.  A  mere  form  of 
words,  without  any  corresponding  emotions  and 
affections,  is  nothing  worth.  Prayer  is  begging,  and 
hence  the  spirit,  the  language,  and  the  posture  should 
all  be  appropriate.  "Where  would  be  the  fitness  in  a 
poor  miserable  beggar  coming  to  your  door  with  a 
great  parade  of  ceremonies,  or  a  mere  form  of  words  ? 
"Would  it  not  rather  be  expected  that  his  expressions, 
his  attitude,  his  sighs,  his  tears,  his  broken  utterance, 
would  go  to  enforce  his  application  ?  I  say  nothing 
against  appropriate  forms  of  prayer  to  be  used  upon 
certain  occasions,  much  less  wduld  I  give  place  to  an 
incoherent  manner  of  expression  ;  but  I  would  have 
all  the  members  of  the  Church  so  many  officiating 
priests,  offering  up  to  God  the  sacrifice  of  pure  devo- 
tion, according  to  their  several  ability.  I  would  have 
the  thoughts,  the  desires,  and  the  words  of  the  whole 
Church  combined  and  mingled  in  a  common  offering 
to  Almighty  God.  I  would  have  every  one  bring 
his  own  offering,  be  it  ever  so  small,  and  cast  it  into 
God's  treasury,  until  the  grand  aggregate  shall  con- 
stitute a  unanimous  expression,  and  go  up  to  God 
like  the  sound  of  many  waters,  and  be  an  odor  of 
sweet  smell  unto  our  heavenly  Father. 

To  prayer  belong  petition,  deprecation,  interces- 
sion, and  thanksgiving.  "We  ask  for  blessings  for 
ourselves ;  we  deprecate  the  divine  displeasure ;  we 


ITS  TRIAL   AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  249 

bring  our  brethren  of  the  human  race  in  the  arms  of 
our  charity,  and  ask  God  to  bless  and  save  them ;  and 
finally  we  render  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  what 
he  has  done  for  us  and  them.  The  duty  must  be 
performed  in  public,  in  the  domestic  circle,  and  in 
the  closet.  But  its  acceptableness  depends  entirely 
upon  the  spirit  and  temper  of  mind  in  which  it  is 
performed.  I  have  already  suggested  that  it  must  be 
offered  in  faith.  To  this  quality  must  be  added 
humility,  fervor  or  earnestness,  and  perseverance. 
As  we  have  always  the  same  need  of  prayer,  we 
must  "pray  without  ceasing,"  "pray  always,  and 
not  faint."  As  it  is  the  language  of  dependence,  of 
poverty,  and  want,  it' is  never  out  of  time.  Indeed, 
the  Christian's  very  breath  should  be  prayer.  His 
aspirations,  warm  from  his  heart,  should  come  up 
before  God  like  the  morning  sacrifice,  every  hour. 
He  should  cultivate  a  habitual  sense  of  his  dependence 
on  God,  devotion  should  constitute  his  prevailing 
mental  state,  and  his  whole  life  should  be  one 
unbroken  series  of  heavenly  aspirations. 

And  if  the  Church  were  brought  up  to  this  state, 
what  efficiency  would  she  possess,  what  power  with 
God,  what  triumph  over  sin,  what  burning  charity, 
what  a  halo  of  glory  would  surround  her ! 

To  faith  and  prayer  we  must  add  fasting. 

Upon  the  duty  pf  fasting  we  shall  first  make  a  few 
general  remafks,  and  then  proceed  to  consider  it  in 
relation  to  present  circumstances. 


250  OUR  COUNTRY: 

This  duty  is  united  witli  faith  and  prayer. 
"Thence  learn,"  says  Burkitt,  "that  fasting  and 
prayer  are  two  special  means  of  Christ's  appointment 
for  the  enabling  us  victoriously  to  overcome  Satan, 
and  to  cast  him  out  of  ourselves  and  others.  We 
must  set  an  edge  upon  our  faith  by  prayer,  and  upon 
our  prayer  by  fasting." 

Christian  fasting  is  a  temporary  abstinence  from 
food ;  neither  so  excessive  as  to  produce  exhaustion, 
nor  yet  so  partial  as  to  produce  no  sensible  effect 
upon  the  physical  and  mental  frame.  This  duty, 
accompanied  by  humble  prayer  and  an  obedient  faith, 
humbles  and  subdues  the  heart.  There  is  a  constant 
tendency  in  our  animal  appetites  to  triumph  over 
reason  and  conscience.  A  perpetual  effort  is  neces- 
sary to  enable  the  moral  and  the  rational  part  to  over- 
come the  animal.  By  mortifying  and  subduing  the 
flesh,  and  by  cherishing  the  intellectual  and  moral 
man,  we  become  prepared  for  strong  intellectual  and 
moral  efforts.  But  fasting  is  a  divine  institution,  and 
its  utility  does  not  depend  upon  its  natural  effects 
upon  the  body  or  the  mind  so  much  as  upon  the 
blessing  of  God.  For  God  will  always  visit  with 
special  favor  acts  of  obedience  performed  because  he 
requires  them,  and  is  glorified  in  them.  Our  true 
attitude  is  that  of  submission;  and  even  where  we 
can  see  no  special  adaptedness  in  the  duty  required 
to  promote  good,  still  for  us  "obedience  is  bet- 
ter than  sacrifice,  and  to  hearken  than  the  fat  of 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  251 

rams."  God  has  the  undoubted  right  to  connect  an- 
tecedent and  sequence  as  he  sees  best ;  and  when  the 
fact  of  such  connection  is  revealed,  it  does  not  become 
us  to  refuse  obedience  because  we  cannot  perceive 
the  reasons  for  such  connection.  So  if  God  require 
us  to  fast  he  will  bless  us  in  so  doing.  This  we  might 
infer  from  the  character  of  God,  if  we  had  no  facts 
upon  record  which  bear  upon  the  point.  But  while 
we  have  before  us  the  instructive  examples  of  Daniel, 
of  Esther,  and  of  the  Ninevites ;  of  Moses,  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  of  Christ  himself,  there  is  left  no 
room  for  question  as  to  the  acceptableness  and  the 
efficacy  of  fasting  rightly  performed. 

Fasting  is  one  of  the  Christian  duties  that  are  not 
to  be  confined  to  days  set  apart  by  the  civil  authori- 
ties, but  is  to  be  resorted  to  voluntarily  at  set  periods, 
or  upon  any  great  and  pressing  emergency.  I  am 
not  now  called  upon  to  enforce  the  due  observance  of 
a  national  fast,  but  to  urge  frequent  fasting  and 
prayer  with  reference  to  our  national  troubles.  The 
nation  is  suffering  fearfully,  and  although  the  princi- 
pal cause  is  from  a  wicked  rebellion,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  but  God  has  permitted  this  rebellion  for  the 
chastisement  of  the  nation.  It  then  becomes  us  to 
fast  and  pray,  and  to  humble  ourselves  before  God. 

The  demon  of  secession,  as  has  been  seen,  is  a  most 
obstinate  spirit,  and  hard  to  manage.  He  may  be 
conquered  and  broken  down  by  physical  force,  but 
he  cannot  be  cast  out  without  divine  help.  His 


252  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

object  is  the  ruin  of  all  that  is  fair  and  glorious  in 
our  free  institutions.  Whatever  motives  we  have  for 
the  salvation  of  our  beloved  country  urge  us  to 
humble  ourselves  with  prayer  and  fasting,  to  depre- 
cate the  wrath  of  heaven,  and  labor  for  the  removal 
of  the  evils  brought  into  the  body  politic,  and  those 
which  still  threaten  to  enter  through  the  agency  of 
the  secession  devil. 

The  battle  is  of  the  Lord,  hence  his  aid  is  to  be 
sought  as  our  only  hope.  We  must  have  large  and 
well-appointed  armies,  brave  and  skillful  officers,  and 
our  armies  must  stand  up  manfully  against  the  foe, 
while  the  whole  country  must  fast  and  pray.  We 
must  follow  the  instructions  of  that  brave  old  war- 
rior Oliver  Cromwell :  "  Boys,  pray  all  the  time,  but 
keep  your  powder  dry."  God  works  by  authorized 
means.  Having  done  our  best,  we  may  safely  com- 
mit the  cause  of  the  country  "  to  Him  who  judgeth 
righteously."  I  will  now  close  this  disquisition  by 
reference  to  several  motives  which  the  Christian 
citizen  has  for  a  large  outlay  of  means  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  moral  improvement  of  the  people  and 
the  perpetuity  of  the  union  of  these  United  States. 

Our  natural  self-love  should  prompt  us  to  such 
efforts. 

Is  the  security  of  life,  of  property,  and  of  charac- 
ter a  matter  of  importance?  Do  we  instinctively 
desire  it  ?  And  shall  we  have  no  concern  for  the 
safety  and  permanency  of  those  institutions  upon 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  253 

which  this  security  depends  ?  Surely,  as  we  desire 
our  own  peace  and  safety,  and  the  happiness  of  our 
children,  we  can  but  be  disposed  to  do  everything 
within  our  power  to  elevate  the  moral  character  of 
the  people  in  these  United  States,  and  to  restore  law 
and  order.  Here  the  people  are  the  source  of  all 
civil  power.  They  have  the  government  in  their 
own  hands ;  and  if  they  become  generally  corrupt 
and  fail  to  sustain  it,  they  will  soon  bring  ruin  upon 
themselves.  And  the  righteous  will  suffer  with  the 
wicked.  Though  there  might  be  multitudes  of  pious 
and  patriotic  individuals,  they  could  have  no  security 
or  safety  in  a  general  wreck  of  our  civil  institutions, 
Anarchy  and  confusion  would  inevitably  follow  the 
general  prevalence  of  vice  and  licentiousness,  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  Constitution  and  .  the  laws. 
Morality  and  religion  constitute  the  bonds  by  which 
society  is  held  together,  and  without  them  the  ele- 
ments of  the  social  compact  will  be  dissolved.  Inat- 
tention to  the  moral  character  of  the  people  is  reck- 
lessness of  our  own  personal  safety  and  prosperity. 
It  is  suicide. 

Patriotism  calls  aloud  for  these  efforts.  If  the 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  country  and  the 
permanency  of  our  free  institutions  depend  upon  the 
virtue  of  the  people,  and  this  none  will  dispute,  how 
can  we  more  directly  serve  the  interests  of  our  be- 
loved country  than  by  seeking  to  promote  her  moral 
improvement  ?  Tyrants  know  full  well  that  the  sue- 


254  OUB  COUNTRY: 

cess  of  free  institutions  in  this  country  is  the  doom  of 
despotism  throughout  the  earth.  Of  course  they 
watch  for  our  halting.  They  mark  with  a  kind  of 
diabolical  satisfaction  the  progress  of  those  causes 
which  tend  to  our  ruin.  When  we  stumble,  they 
gay,  "  Aha,  so  would  we  have  it."  Shall  their  pre- 
dictions and  their  wishes  be  realized  in  the  ultimate 
dissolution  of  this  purest  and  best  of  all  human  gov- 
ernments ?  As  we  love  our  country,  we  shall  give 
this  interrogation  a  most  emphatic  negative.  And 
we  will  sustain  our  words  by  appropriate  action. 

Philanthropy  will  induce  action.  As  we  love  our 
fellow-men,  we  shall  desire  the  blessings  of  political 
freedom  to  be  extended  through  the  world.  And 
when  will  this  be  done  if  the  experiment  of  a  popu- 
lar government  in  this  country  prove  a  failure  ? 
When  will  arbitrary  institutions,  with  all  their  ac- 
companiments, be  annihilated,  and  man  be  free  and 
happy,  if  the  genius  of  liberty  is  driven  from  our 
shores  ?  If  the  war  waged  by  us  against  rebellion 
and  oppression  shall  result  in  defeat,  where  is  the 
hope  of  the  world  ? 

Finally,  religion  supplies  many  considerations  to 
urge  us  to  action. 

The  Church  has  breasted  many  storms  and  tri- 
umphed over  a  multitude  of  foes.  But  she  has  yet  a 
grand,  decisive  battle  to  fight  here  that  will  tell  upon 
the  destinies  of  the  world,  and  will  hold  an  intimate 
connection  with  the  glorious  millennium.  The 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  255 

American  Church  will  constitute  one  grand  division 
of  the  sacramental  host  in  the  final  struggle  with  the 
prince  of  darkness,  and  upon  her  devolves  high  re- 
sponsibilities. The  manner  in  which  she  acts  her 
part  is  of  great  importance  to  the  general  result. 

If  Christianity  is  foiled  upon  'American  soil,  where 
can  she  hope  for  success  ?  Here  she  stands  upon 
vantage  ground.  Here  she  is-  neither  proscribed  by 
the  civil  power,  nor  so  united  to  it  as  to  weaken  her 
energies,  or  deprive  her  of  the  glory  of  her  achieve- 
ments. And  shall  she  prove  too  feeble  for  the  great 
work  she  has  undertaken  under  such  favorable  cir- 
cumstances ?  God  forbid !  Let  her  friends  rally 
around  her  standard  and  shout  for  the  battle.  Let 
all  who  love  her  come  up  to  her  help,  push  on  her 
conquests,  labor,  pray,  fast,  fight,  until  her  "  right- 
eousness shall  go  forth  as  brightness,  and  her  salva- 
tion as  a  lamp  that  burneth ;"  until  rebellion,  slavery, 
and  every  other  form  of  wickedness  shall  cease  from 
this  renovated  and  glorious  land. 


256  OUR  COUNTRY : 


XY. 
THE  GOOD  SAMARITAN. 

AND  JESUS  ANSWERING  SAID,  A  CERTAIN  MAN  WENT  DOWN  FROM  JERU- 
SALEM TO  JERICHO,  AND  FELL  AMONG  THIEVES,  WHICH  STRIPPED  HIM  OF 
HIS  RAIMENT,  AND  WOUNDED  HIM,  AND  DEPARTED,  LEAVING  HIM  HALF 
DEAD.  .  .  .  BUT  A  CERTAIN  SAMARITAN,  AS  HE  JOURNEYED,  CAME 
WHERE  HE  WAS :  AND  WHEN  HE  SAW  HIM,  HE  HAD  COMPASSION  ON 
HIM,  AND  WENT  TO  HIM,  AND  BOUND  UP  HIS  WOUNDS,  POURING  IN  OIL 
AND  WINE,  AND  SET  HIM  ON  HIS  OWN  BEAST,  AXD  BROUGHT  HIM  TO  AN 

INN,  AND  TOOK  CARE  OF  HIM. — Luke  X,   30,   33-34. 

THE  story  of  the  wounded  Jew  and  the  compassionate 
Samaritan  beautifully  illustrates  the  method  of  God's 
providence.  It  is  a  law  of  the  divine  administration 
to  follow  evil  with  the  remedy.  The  advent  of  sin, 
which  brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe, 
was  followed  by  the  promise  of  the  Saviour,  who,  in 
the  fullness  of  time,  was  manifested  in  the  flesh.  He 
was  the  world's  great  Restorer.  His  grace  presented 
a  remedy  for  the  defection  of  humanity  in  all  its 
breadth.  There  is  not  an  attribute  or  phase  of 
human  depravity  which  has  not  its  counterpart  in 
the  Gospel.  The  doctrines  of  Christ,  each  and  all, 
stand  in  juxtaposition  to  the  various  manifestations 
of  human  depravity.  Where  sin  has  reigned  unto 
death,  there  grace  reigns  through  righteousness  unto 
eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

The  same  economy  of  following  the  disease  by 
» 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  257 

the  remedy  is  found  to  characterize  God's  providen- 
tial arrangements  throughout.  Supply  follows  closely  • 
upon  the  heels  of  want.  The  mangled,  bleeding  vic- 
tim, cast  out  and  apparently  uncared-for,  is  found  by 
the  kind-hearted  Samaritan,  w],io  binds  up  his  wounds, 
pouring  in  oil  and  wine,  and  carries  him  to  a  place 
of  safety  and  comfort. 

The  desolating  war  in  which  the  country  is  en- 
gaged, to  a  casual  observer,  presents  a  scene  of  un- 
mitigated horror ;  but  a  careful  survey  of  the  whole 
picture  will  bring  out  the  occasions  which  it  furnishes 
for  the  most  splendid  exhibitions  of  the  better  feelings 
of  the  human  heart,  and  the  divine  graces  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  war  has  originated  the  occasion  for  two  of  the 
noblest  institutions  which  have  graced  modern  civili- 
zation :  the  Sanitary  and  the  Christian  Commissions. 
The  first  is  humanitarian,  the  second  eminently 
Christian.  The  first  is  auxiliary  to  the  commissariat 
and  the  medical  department,  the  second  is  an  expan- 
sion of  the  functions  of  the  chaplain ;  each  in  its 
way  supplies  a  desideratum,  and,  united,  they  go  far 
toward  mitigating  the  horrors  of  war.  If  war  can 
be  civilized  and  Christianized,  we  have  in  these  insti- 
tutions the  agencies  for  the  accomplishment  of  these 
great  ends.  The  wars  of  the  barbarous  ages  were 
attended  by  no  such  modifying  and  relieving  agen- 
cies. Former  wars,  even  of  Christian  nations,  were 

unattended  by  the  good  Samaritan  with  his  oil  and 

17 


258  OUR  COUNTRY: 

wine  and  ambulance  for  the  relief  of  those  who  were 
weltering  in  their  blood  on  the  gory  field  of  battle. 

War  seen  from  afar  dazzles  the  imagination.  The 
mind  is  filled  with  emotions  (5f  admiration  as  it  con- 
templates the  pomp  of  martial  array,  the  skill  of 
leaders,  the  valor  of  the  contending  forces,  the  attack, 
the  thunder  of  the  battle,  which  shakes  the  earth  and 
darkens  the  heavens,  the  final  charge,  and  the  vic- 
tory, the  glad  news  that  thrills  along  the  wires  which 
form  the  nerves  of  the  nation,  the  mighty  joy  which 
rolls  out  from  the  field  of  strife  in  an  ever- widening 
circle.  But  viewed  more  closely  the  scene  changes ;  the 
moral  grandeur  of  the  contest  may  remain,  but  we  learn 
the  fearful  price  with  which  victory  is  bought.  We 
behold  the  weary  march,  the  crowded  hospital,  the 
horrors  of  the  bloody  field  when  the  battle  is  over, 
and  the  place  of  strife  is  a  true  Aceldama,  where  the 
mangled  forms  of  the  living  and  the  dying  are  some- 
times left  for  days,  because,  though  there  are  many 
that  pity,  there  are  few  that  can  be  spared  from  the 
ranks  to  save  them. 

In  the  fearful  war  which  foul  rebellion  has  brought 
upon  the  land,  our  government  has  done  all  that  lies 
in  its  power  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  our  brave 
soldiers.  Surgeons,  hospitals,  medical  stores,  have 
been  provided  in  abundance.  Yet  when  a  great 
battle  occurs,  and  thousands  fall  in  an  hour,  some 
agency  is  needed  to  supplement  the  appliances  pro- 
vided by  the  public  authorities.  When  a  single  day's 


ITS  TRIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  259 

fighting  numbers  half  the  officers  and  men  of  a  regi- 
ment among  the  wounded,  the  surgeon  and  his  assist- 
ant may  do  all  that  lies  in  their  power,  but  many 
must  suffer  and  die,  because  there  are  so  many  that 
they  cannot  all  be  reached  in  time.  In  the  perma- 
nent hospitals,  too,  there  is  work  for  the  humane  and 
the  patriotic ;  a  work  of  benevolence  and  love,  as 
well  as  of  wisdom,  in  supplying  various  comforts  and 
delicacies,  which  the  stern  rules  of  military  life  never 
provide,  but  of  which  the  sick  room  even  of  the  poor 
at  home  is  not  destitute. 

Here,  then,  is  the  field  of  the  two  Commissions, 
whose  agencies  for  good  the  present  contest  has  called 
into  existence.  They  are  the  free  outgrowth  of  a 
nation's  grateful  regard  for  its  defenders — the  voice 
of  peace  and  good-will  heard  even  amid  the  lowering 
storm  of  war.  It  is  matter  of  congratulation  to  note 
with  what  liberality  the  money  of  the  poor  and  the 
rich  has  been  contributed,  how  many  willing  hands 
and  patriotic  hearts  have  engaged  in  these  blessed 
ministries  of  humanity.  The  Sanitary  Commission, 
from  its  abundant  treasures,  the  gift  of  a  generous 
people,  has  provided  the  means  whereby  many  a 
brave  man  has  been  saved  to  the  armies  of  his  coun- 
try, many  a  husband,  a  brother,  a  son.  has  been  pre- 
served to  return  to  the  home  which  mourns  his  ab- 
sence ;  and  it  has  also  been  laboring  with  great  use- 
fulness and  success  in  behalf  of  the  freedmen  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  Christian  Commission,  in  its  pro- 


260  OUE   COUNTRY  : 

posed  department  of  labor,  sweeps  a  still  wider  circle. 
It  looks  to  all  the  wants  of  the  soldier,  physical, 
mental,  and  religious,  and  seeks  to  do  what  may  be 
done  to  provide  for  them  all.  It  not  only  has  food 
for  the  hungry,  and  clothing  for  the  naked,  but  sends 
them  by  the  hands  of  sympathizing  Christian  men, 
who  follow  the  sound  of  the  battle,  that  they  may 
bear  away  the  wounded  and  pray  beside  the  dying. 
At  Gettysburgh,  before  the  smoke  of  the  deadly  con- 
test had  been  dispelled,  the  delegates  of  the  Christian 
Commission  were  at  their  noble  toil,  which  they 
prosecuted  day  and  night  till  every  bleeding  sufferer, 
patriot  or  rebel,  was  found  and  cared  for.  The  num- 
ber of  delegates  thus  engaged  was  over  two  hundred. 
Surgeons  have  declared  that,  through  the  agency  of 
the  Christian  Commission,  at  least  one  thousand  lives 
were  saved  on  that  field  alone.  Ministers,  who  were 
there  engaged  in  Gospel  labors,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Commission,  estimate  the  souls  converted  in 
the  hospitals  at  Gettysburgh  at  one  thousand.  At 
this  present  hour,  while  the  fierce  storm  of  battle 
rages  at  various  points,  hundreds  of  the  delegates  of 
the  Commission,  a  large  majority  of  whom  are  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel,  are  prosecuting  their  labors  among 
the  wounded  and  the  dying,  striving  with  heart  and 
voice  to  save  the  lives  and  souls  of  those  to  whom 
they  minister.  On  every  great  battle-field,  and  in 
every  hospital  in  all  the  land,  their  presence  has 
brought  comfort  and  hope ;  and  many  a  wanderer 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  261 

have  they  led,  through  grace,  to  the  fold  of  Christ. 
The  cash  value  of  the  benefactions  of  the  Christian 
Commission  during  the  past  year  amounts  to  nearly  a 
million  of  dollars,  and  more  than  twelve  hundred  dele- 
gates have  responded  to  its  call  without  fee  or  reward. 

"  THE  CHRISTIAN  COMMISSION  is  a  voluntary  asso- 
ciation. It  was  organized  in  New  York  on  the  16th 
November,  1861.  The  persons  by  whom  it  was 
organized  were  delegates  from  several  societies  exist- 
ing in  as  many  cities  and  other  places,  known  as  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations.  The  delegates 
were  sent  to  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  organiz- 
ing a  body  to  be  known  as  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion. The  purpose  of  this  body,  at  the  first  and  at 
the  present,  is  the  performance  of  such  service  to  the 
disabled  of  the  Army  and  Navy  as  Christian  sympa- 
thy suggests.  In  bodies  consisting  of  large  numbers 
of  men  it  is  well  known  that  there  must  be  many 
sick,  and  in  the  sad  work  of  the  battle-fields  it  is  as 
well  known  that  there  must  be  large  numbers  of  the 
wounded.  It  is  to  minister  to  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  wants  of  these  sick  and  wounded  men  that 
the  Christian  Commission  performs"  its  voluntary 
offices. 

"The  character  of  the  Commission  was  fixed  at 
the  meeting  of  the  delegates  at  the  instance  of 
George  H.  Stuart,  Esq.,  by  whose  happy  forethought 
and  succeeding  labors  the  body  was  brought  into 


262  OUR  COUNTRY: 

existence.  The  philanthropic  features  of  the  Com- 
mission have  not  been  changed.  The  work  as  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Stuart  of  performing  the  service  of  the 
good  Samaritan  to  the  sick  of  the  army  and  the  dis- 
abled of  the  battle-fields  is  still  continued.  The  area 
of  the  work  has  been  greatly  extended,  and  the  num- 
ber of  the  workmen  has  been  greatly  increased. 
Following,  as  the  Commission  has  done,  in  the  foot- 
steps of  the  Army  and  in  the  wake  of  the  vessels  of 
the  Navy,  in  the  expansion  of  its  labors  the  obliga- 
tion has  been  forced  upon  it  of  increasing  its  laborers 
and  means.  Wonderful  has  been  its  success  in  meet- 
ing this  emergency.  An  all-wise  and  overruling 
Providence  has  raised  up  friends  as  they  were  needed, 
and  means  as  they  were  demanded.  Although  at 
the  first  it  was  difficult  to  accomplish  the  smaller 
amount  of  necessary  service,  it  has  not  been  much 
more  so  to  perform  the  same  over  the  greatly  ex- 
tended field  that  is  now  whitened  for  the  harvest  and 
demands  the  laborers  and  the  material  necessary  for 
the  performance  of  their  work.  It  is  not  pretended 
that  the  service  contemplated  has  been  fully  per- 
formed in  the  relief  of  all  the  suffering  and  privation 
that  have  appeared  in  the  view  of  the  Commission's 
agents  and  delegates.  Our  means  have  never  been 
adequate  to  this  demand ;  but  as  far  as  the  men  and 
the  means  could  be  provided  they  have  been  appro- 
priated, and  although  all  the  needed  service  could 
not  be  rendered,  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  suf- 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH. 

fering  necessarily  occasioned  by  the  war  has  been 
relieved.  Had  there  been  more  men  and  more 
money,  the  greater  had  been  the  service  and  the 
more  nearly  perfect  had  been  its  performance. 

"As  a  voluntary  association,  the  Christian  Com- 
mission has  no  official  relation  either  to  the  Govern- 
ment or  to  the  Army  and  Navy.  There  is  no  detri- 
ment to  the  service,  however,  on  this  account.  The 
work  of  the  Commission  is  approved  and  sanctioned 
by  the  Government,  and  directions  have  been  given 
that  its  delegates  should  be  respected  and  protected, 
and  every  possible  facility  afforded  them  in  the  pur- 
suit of  their  labors.  The  name  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  names  of  a  number  of  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Cabinet  and  Generals  and  other 
officials  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  Commission,  and  thereby  the  con- 
nection of  the  Commission  with  the  Army  and  Navy 
service  has  been  rendered  as  nearly  official  as  is  de- 
sirable. No  surgeon  or  chaplain  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  who  understands  the  relationship  of  the  Com- 
mission with  the  service  ever  thinks  of  impeding  the 
progress  of  the  work  or  of  doing  anything  in  its  con- 
nection that  does  not  facilitate  its  purpose.  But  few 
difficulties  have  arisen  on  account  of  misunderstand- 
ings in  this  relation,  and  the  few  that  have  occurred 
have  been  readily  adjusted  when  the  proper  rela- 
tionship of  the  parties  were  understood. 

"  An  association  known  as  the  Baltimore  Christian 


264  OUR  COUNTRY: 

Association  for  the  relief  of  the  disabled  of  the  camps 
and  hospitals,  was  in  the  service  before  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Christian  Commission.  It  was  fairly  at 
its  work  in  May,  1861,  preceding  the  date  of  the 
order  establishing  the  United  States  Christian  Com- 
mission. As  soon  as  the  Committee  of  Maryland  of 
the  Commission  was  appointed,  the  Baltimore  Asso- 
ciation became  auxiliary  to"  the  United  States  Chris- 
tian Commission,  and  has  ever  rendered  efficient 
service  in  the  connection. 

"Previous  to  the  date  at  which  the  Christian  Com- 
mission was  organized,  the  Secretary  of  the  Mary- 
land Committee  was  in  treaty  with  clergymen  of 
Baltimore  for  the  purpose  of  making  application  to 
the  Government  for  the  provision  of  a  chaplain  serv- 
ice for  the  hospitals.  A  correspondence  was  en- 
tered into  with  persons  connected  with  the  hospitals 
for  that  purpose.  On  one  occasion,  that  of  a  hos- 
pital at  which  four  clergymen  were  in  the  habit  of 
visiting,  an  application  was  made  for  assistance  in 
obtaining  from  the  Government  the  appointment  of 
a  chaplain  for  the  hospital  and  one  for  each  of  the 
hospitals  then  established.  The  reply  to  the  appli- 
cation was  unfavorable.  The  number  of  unofficial 
visitors  was  said  to  be,  and  doubtless  were,  so  great 
that  they  were  in  one  another's  way.  What  was 
wanted  was  a  proper  head,  and  a  system  by  which 
the  work  should  be  regulated.  The  suggestion  was 
not  appreciated  that  the  appointment  of  a  single 


ITS  TIIIAL  AND  ITS  TKIUMPH.  265 

chaplain  with  official  relations  and  authority  would 
regulate  the  attendance  of  others,  and  render  their 
assistance  of  much  greater  use  by  being  more  sys- 
tematic and  regular.  Letters  were  written  by  the 
Secretary  to  members  of  Congress,  but  without  effect. 
To  President  Lincoln  is  due  the  honor  of  having  the 
chaplaincy  service  established,  and  from  him  the 
Christian  Commission  has  received  every  necessary 
evidence  of  favor,  and  by  his  encouraging  efforts  its 
service  has  been  rendered  much  more  effective  than 
it  could  possibly  have  been  without  it.  By  a  late 
act  of  Congress  the  rank  of  the  chaplain  is  that  of 
major,  which  gives  them  higher  authority  and 
greater  influence  than  they  have  heretofore  had. 

"The  voluntary  service  of  the  United  States 
Christian  Commission  in  the  relief  of  the  sick  and 
wounded  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  is  rendered  almost 
official  by  the  approval  and  protection  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  now  making  up  the  deficiencies  in 
the  religious  service,  and  in  the  administration  of 
delicacies  to  the  sick  and  wounded,  that  probably 
could  not  be  otherwise  supplied.  It  is  not  at  all 
probable  that  Army  and  Navy  officials,  however  well 
remunerated,  and  however  well  supplied  with  means, 
would  answer  the  demands  made  upon  the  Christian 
Commission.  The  character  of  the  service  indicates 
the  voluntary  supply,  and  in  such  relation  only  can 
the  labor  "be  properly  performed. 

"  It  is  not  to  be  inferred  from  our  remarks  in  rela- 


266  OUR  COUNTRY : 

tion  to  the  necessity  of  the  service  of  the  Christian 
Commission  that  the  Government  does  not  make 
ample  provision  for  the  pursuit  of  its  purpose  in  the 
management  of  the  war,  nor  that  the  agencies  pro- 
vided are  not  sufficiently  humane'  for  the  purpose. 
Never  was  there  such  provision  made  by  any  Gov- 
ernment for  the  relief  of  the  sufferings  necessarily 
occasioned  in  the  conduct  of  a  war  as  there  has  been 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in  the 
present  sad  emergency.  Surgeons  and  chaplains 
have  been  supplied  for  regiments  and  hospitals ;  and 
these  are  sufficient  for  ordinary  purposes.  But  all 
the  surgeons  in  the  country  would  be  insufficient  for 
the  demand  upon  the  service  after  such  battles  as 
have  been  fought  in  the  present  contest.  Nor  in 
such  emergency  could  all  the  religipus  service  that 
could  be  secured  be  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  the 
battle-fields  and  camps  and  hospitals.  It  were  well 
therefore  that  there  should  be  an  agency  that  could 
wait  on  the  outside  and  in  calmness  and  with  due 
consideration  measure  the  field  demanding  the  relief, 
and  make  provision  for  its  supply. 

"  Such  is  the  work  of  the  United  States  Christian 
Commission.  It  is  waiting  in  its  place  outside  of 
the  Army,  and  of  any  of  the  official  relations  of  the 
Government.  It  has  its  delegates  composed  of 
Christian  ministers  and  laymen  of  every  religious 
denomination.  The  supply  is  always  at  hand,  and 
with  such  means  as  we  have,  we  send  them  forth 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  267 

wherever  their  services  are  needed.  The  good 
pleasure  of  the  Lord  has  hitherto  prospered  in 
their  hands,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the 
immense  service  they  are  now  rendering,  and  may 
continue  to  render  in  the  cause  of  suffering,  bleeding 
humanity. 

"  The  following  letter  from  Secretary  Stanton 
expresses  his  approval  of  our  Commission  and  its 
purpose : 

"  '  WAB  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON  CITY,  1 
April  16, 1864.      j 

"'DEAR  SIR:  Among  the  benevolent  associations 
organized  by  patriotic  and  charitable  men  during 
the  present  war,  none  has  surpassed,  and  few,  if  any, 
have  equaled  the  Christian  Commission  in  zeal, 
energy,  and  disinterested  devotion  to  the  humane 
objects  of  their  -institution.  Their  efficient  labors  in 
the  field,  in  the  hospital,  and  in  the  camp  have  been 
felt  by  soldiers  and  officers,  and  have  frequently 
been  brought  to  the  notice  of  this  Department.  It 
is  not  only  a  pleasure,  but  I.  regard  it  as  an  official 
duty  to  commend  the  Christian  Commission  to  pub- 
lic confidence  and  respect,  as  an  institution  whose 
labors  cannot  fail  to  contribute  greatly  to  the  wel- 
fare of  our  armies. 

"'Yours  truly,         EDWIN  M.  STANTON, 

Secretary  of  War? 

"The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  re- 
ceived by  the  Secretary  of  the  Maryland  Committee : 


268  OUR  COUNTRY: 

"'No  one  more  heartily  sympathizes  with  the 
objects,  or  more  highly  appreciates  the  labors  of  the 
Christian  Commission  than  yonr  very  humble  serv- 
ant, WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD.' 

"Letters  of  the  same  nature  have  been  received 
from  President  Lincoln  and  from  other  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  as  well  as  from  a  number  of  the  most 
distinguished  officers  of  the  Army  and  Navy." 

"A  friend  of  the  Commission,  of  active  and  ener- 
getic habits,  whose  power  of  thought  was  rapid  and 
vivid  during  the  process  of  his  absorbing  and  trying 
labors,  has  remembered  the  events  that  transpired 
around  him  with  an  interest  that  has  never  yet 
failed  to  produce  an  involuntary  thrill  through  his 
system  whenever  the  recollection  of  them  has  oc- 
curred. Like  the  ever-changing  visions  of  a  terrific 
dream  the  ranks  of  the  fallen  have  appeared.  The 
living  who  were  badly  wounded  were  seen  struggling 
under  bodies  of  the  dead,  others  crawling  over  them, 
apparently  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  places  of  re- 
lief and  security,  or  spots  upon  which  to  die. 
Among  the  living  and  the  dead  were  the  men  of 
both  armies,  the  enemies  that  had  fought  in  the  san- 
guinary conflict.  The  scene  was  terrific  in  its  ever- 
varying  variety.  There  were  mangled  masses  of 
animal  matter  composed  of  the  bodies  and  parts  of 
bodies  of  dead  horses,  human  forms,  limbs  and 
heads,  with  features  yet  horrible  in  the  contorted 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TKIUMPH.  269 

lineaments  of  the  death  agony;  the  web- work  of 
iron,  wood,  leather,  and  matted  clothing,  all  the 
shattered  implements  of  war  and  warlike  equip- 
ments, and  shred-worn  habiliments  of  the  soldier. 
The  area  of  horror  thus  presented  was  rendered  yet 
more  horrible  by  the  activity  everywhere  in  motion 
of  hundreds  of  laborers  with  picks  and  spades,  dig- 
ging trenches,  and  dragging  into' them  the  bodies  of 
the  dead,  and  covering  them  with  earth.  Great  was 
the  relief  afforded  the  view  in  the  appearance  of  the 
delegates  of  the  Christian  Commission  with  their 
towels  and  cloths  and  pails  and  basins  of  water. 
They  were  quenching  the  thirst  of  the  suffering, 
bathing  their  foreheads  and  faces,  and  washing  their 
wounds,  and  applying  the  necessary  restoratives  to 
the  fainting  and  exhausted  system.  They  were  re- 
moving gently,  and  with  the  most  anxious  concern, 
the  bodies  of  such  as  would  bear  it.  They  were 
whispering  the  words  of  comfort  and  heavenly  con- 
solation to  the  dying.  They  were  receiving  the  last 
messages  of  love  to  friends  and  relatives  at  home. 
They  were  receiving  pledges  of  affection  for  loved 
ones  and  giving  assurances  of  remembrance,  and  that 
their  dying  testimonials  and  requests  should  be  faith- 
fully and  promptly  delivered.  The  same  attention 
and  services  were  rendered  the  fallen  o'f  the  enemy 
that  were. given  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Union  army. 
Upon  the  arm  of  the  delegate  the  head  of  the  dying 
rebel  has  reclined ;  and  while  assurances  of  remem- 


270  .  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

brance  to  friends,  were  it  possible,  and  words  of  con- 
solation were  spoken,  the  spirit  has  passed  to  its 
place  among  the  departed. 

"On  the  several  occasions  when  bodies  of  the 
enemy,  in  various  numerical  force,  have  invaded  the 
territory  held  by  our  troops  along  the  line  of  the 
Potomac,  in  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland, 
we  have  visited  in  person  or  sent  delegates  for  serv- 
ice amid  the  scenes  of  disaster  and  bloodshed.  On 
occasions  of  anticipated  invasion,  our  delegates  have 
been  in  readiness  with  stores  prepared  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  they  have  followed  swiftly  upon  the  move- 
ments of  the  armies  and  performed  extended  service 
to  the  needy  they  have  left  upon  the  fields  behind 
them.  In  some  instances  they  have  barely  escaped 
capture,  sometimes  with  loss.  In  several  instances 
their  clothing  and  other  property  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  One  of  our  chaplains,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Former,  on  one  occasion,  escaped  with  his  life, 
but  lost  all  the  clothes  and  property  he  had  with 
him ;  his  loss  was  nearly  two  hundred  dollars. 

"  Religious  services  have  been  established,  through 
the  agency  of  the  commission,  in  many  places  where 
they  have  been  needed.  At  every  possible  point  at 
which  our  delegates  are  laboring,  meetings  for  preach- 
ing, experience  and  prayer  have  been  held.  The 
benefits  of  this  service  have  been  repeatedly  acknowl- 
edged by  government  officials  and  others,  who  have 
witnessed  their  effects  not  only  upon  the  sick  and 


ITS  TKIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  271 

dying,  but  upon  the  soldier  in  health,  and  in  the 
active  service  of  the  camp.  Testimonials  of  the 
dying  of  a  most  gratifying  character  are  upon  the 
record,  and  many  who  are  living  bear  continuous 
testimony  of  their  effect  in  the  witness  of  faithfully 
devoted  religious  lives. 

"A  number  of  terrific  battles  have  been  fought 
during  the  last  year.  Through  all  these  the 
Commission  has  followed  the  army,  rendering 
needed  service  to  the  dead  and  wounded  of  both 
the  contending  armies.  The  cases  are  but  few  in 
which  the  sufferer  of  either  army  has  been  over- 
looked; never  do  we  believe  has  he  been  willfully 
neglected.  In  the  wake  of  these  battles  we  have  had 
experienced  delegates.  The  experience  was  attained 
on  former  occasions  of  services,  and  it  has  rendered 
the  labors  of  delegates  much  more  ready,  as  well  as 
much  more  efficient.  Our  own  experience  in  ar- 
ranging for  the  prosecution  of  our  labors  has  been 
valuable  to  us.  It  has  forced  upon  us  the  knowledge 
of  the  sort  of  work  we  have  to  perform,  and  enables 
us  to  accomplish  it  with  much  greater  readiness  and 
ease  than  were  possible  when  we  started  in  the  enter- 
prise. Our  field  is  now  much  more  systematically 
arranged  and  much  better  worked  than  formerly. 
Its  points  of  duty  generally  are  distributed  with  a 
degree  of  regularity  throughout  the  departments  of 
the  army  in  the  occupancy  of  our  district.  The 
movements  of  delegates  are  ordered  in  such  manner 


272  OUB  COUNTRY: 

as  best  enables  them  to  communicate  with  field,  local, 
and  traveling  agents,  with  army  officials,  and  with 
each  other.  In  this  order  the  work  of  the  Commis- 
sion is  rendered  comparatively  convenient,  and  is 
accomplished  with  a  good  degree  of  satisfaction. 

"It  is  a  sad  reflection  that  the  cost  of  our  continued 
experience  and  attainment  of  proficiency  should  be  the 
blood  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  countrymen, 
and  of  thousands  of  millions  of  treasure  that  might  be 
expended  in  the  building  up  rather  than  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  cities,  and  in  the  beautifying  rather  than  the 
devastation  of  the  valuable  territory  occupied  and 
trodden  down  by  the  hostile  armies.  But  our  mis- 
guided fellow-citizens  will  have  it  so.  The  terrible 
issue  is  forced  upon  us.  Painful  as  is  the  process,  we 
must  educate  ourselves  for  the  afflictive  service,  or 
leave  unaccomplished  one  of  our  most  important  and 
necessary  duties  to  humanity,  to  our  country,  and  to 
our  God. 

"  To  the  suffering  prisoners  of  the  Union  army  at 
Richmond  we  have  been  able  to  send  relief  on  vari- 
ous occasions.  Our  own  supplies,  without  an  excep- 
tion that  we  have  heard  of,  have  reached  their  des- 
tination. The  benefits  experienced  by  the  starving 
men,  in  the  receipt  of  sufficient  provisions  to  relieve 
their  necessities,  may  well  be  imagined.  Letters 
have  been  received  from  the  prisoners  acknowledg- 
ing the  receipt  of  boxes  of  first  quality  hams,  beef, 
bread,  coffee,  tea,  sugar,  with  the  best  of  wines  that 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  273 

could  be  found,  etc.  These  letters  have  contained 
expressions  of  gratitude,  and  desires  for  remembrance 
of  friends  and  families,  which  are  of  most  touching 
and  interesting  character.  The  like  has  hardly  been 
recorded  in  history  of  such  abundance  of  provisions 
being  sent  into  the  heart  of  an  enemy's  home  for  the 
relief  cf  the  needy  captives  taken  in  the  pursuit  of  an 
irnbittered  and  terrific  and  dreadfully  afflictive  war. 
It  is  admitted  that  no  such  fighting  has  ever  occurred 
as  that  which  has  been  recorded  of  the  armies  of 
Anglo-Saxon  descent  now  in  the  field.  It  must  also 
be  admitted  that  no  such  concern  has  been  experi- 
enced for  the  suffering,  and  no  such  relief  afforded 
them  as  that  which  appears  on  the  records  of  the 
Christian  Commission.  Our  history  will  be  a  tale  of 
mercy  unknown  among  the  archives  of  the  nations  of 
either  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  fallen  and 
afflicted  enemy  of  the  battle-field  finds  a  friend  and 
protector  in  the  people  against  whom  his  hand  has 
been  raised  amid  the  fearful  strife  of  rebellion  and 
war,  and  the  captive  in  the  distant  prison  of  the 
enemy  finds  relief  and  -support  in  the  abundance 
provided  and  transmitted  by  the  friends  from  whom 
he  has  been  separated  in  his  capture. 

"  Close  upon  the  marches  of  the  army,'  and  fast 
upon  its  battle-fields,  have  been  the  movements  of  the 
Christian  Commission.  We  had  scarcely  narrated 
the  services  of  our  delegates  and  ourselves  in  the 


274  OUR   COUNTRY  : 

peared  in  different  places  along  the  line  of  the  Poto- 
mac, and  not  only  threatened  the  States  of  Maryland 
and  Pennsylvania  with  invasion,  but  in  several  in- 
stances actually  crossed  the  river,  and  appeared  on 
the  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  shores  in  pursuit  of 
whatever  plunder  they  could  find. 

"  On  September  22,  1863,  the  rebels  crossed 
the  Potomac  and  entered  Maryland  at  Rockville, 
Montgomery  County.  They  scoured  the  country  for 
several  miles,  and  secured  a  considerable  amount  of 
plunder  in  cattle  and  different  kinds  of  store  goods, 
when  they  were  attacked  by  the  Union  troops,  and 
forced  to  return  to  their  own  camping  grounds  in 
Virginia.  It  was  not  without  several  skirmishes,  in 
which  many  lives  were  sacrificed,  and  many  of  both 
armies  disabled,  that  they  were  allowed  to  escape. 
As  early  after  this  raid  as  September  25,  Moseby's 
men  attacked  and  destroyed  a-  portion  of  the  Orange 
and  Alexandria  llailroad.  "While  at  their  work  they 
were  fallen  upon  by  the  Union  troops  and  driven 
back  with  some  slaughter  on  both  sides.  Again, 
October  5,  Winchester  and  Harper's  Ferry  were 
attacked 'and  captured  by  the  enemy,  who,  as  usual, 
held  them  but  a  few  days,  when  the  federal  army 
drove  them  out,  and  retook  the  captured  towns  and 
vicinities.  October  7  skirmishes  took  place  near 
Martinsburgh  with  various  results,  in  the  capture  of 
Union  troops  by  the  rebels,  and  the  capture  of  rebels 
by  the  Union  troops.  On  all  these  occasions  men 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.'  275 

were  killed  and  wounded,  and  work  provided  for  the 
delegates  of  the  Christian  Commission.  Delegates 
were  sent  from  our  office  to  the  scenes  of  conflict, 
where  their  accustomed  services  were  performed 
with  their  accustomed  success. 

"  At  different  periods  during  the  year  these  raids 
were  repeated.  The  invasion  of  July  6  is  perhaps 
the  most  formidable  of  the  efforts  of  the  kind  that 
transpired  in  the  vicinity  during  the  year.  It  com- 
menced in  the  plunder  of  Frederick  City,  and  was 
continued  in  various  depredations  until  after  the 
burning  of  Chambersburgh,  which  took  place  on 
August  6.  The  result  of  these  raids  left  by  far  the 
most  of  the  dead  and  wounded  of  the  enemy  on  our 
hands.  In  hurried  retreats  it  was  not  possible  for 
them  to  bury  their  dead,  or  to  take  their  wounded 
from  the  field.  Our  hospitals  were  occupied  by  large 
numbers  of  rebels,  on  account  of  whose  sfl^Ferings  the 
sympathies  of  our  people  were  excited,  and  a  vast 
deal  of  labor  and  money  were  expended  in  their 
relief.  The  hospitals  at  Frederick  City  were  some- 
times filled  with  the  wounded  of  the  two  armies, 
while  many  of  the  disabled  were  sent  to  Baltimore 
and  Washington  cities. 

"While  the  raids  were  in  progress  along  the 
Upper  Potomac,  the  most  severe  and  sanguinary  bat- 
tles of  the  campaign  were  fought  during  the  passage 
of  Gen.  Grant's  army  toward  Petersburg!!  and  Rich- 
mond. The  contest  for  Fredericksburgh  had  been 


276  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

severe  and  bloody,  and  .while  the  power  of  possession 
seemed  to  be  alternately  in  the  Union  and  rebel 
forces,  a  number  of  very  hardly  contested  skirmishes 
took  place,  in  which  many  were  killed  and  wounded 
on  both  sides.  At  length,  when  the  scale  was  perma- 
nently inclined  in  favor  of  the  Union  army,  nearly 
all  the  wounded  of  the  enemy  fell  into  our  hands. 
The  provisions  of  the  hospitals,  which  were  sufficient 
in  all  cases  for  our  own  wounded,  were  insufficient 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  crippled  of  both  armies. 
Shelter  tents,  and  such  temporary  accommodations 
as  could  be  hastily  provided,  were  brought  into  use 
until  the  men  could  be  conveyed  to  distant  places  of 
security  and  comfort.  On  all  occasions  the  delegates 
of  the  Commission  were  near,  and  ready  with  their 
stores  for  their  work  of  Christian  liberality,  providing 
for  the  sufferer  with  whatever  means  they  had  on 
hand,  laboring  with  ceaseless  and  untiring  industry 
until  the  objects  of  their  greatly  excited  interest  were 
as  comfortable  as  they  could  render  them. 

"  Afterward  came  on  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness, 
Chancellorsville,  Spottsylvania,  North  Anna,  Coal 
Harbor,  Bermuda  Hundred,  Weldon,  then  the  siege 
of  Petersburgh  and  Richmond.  The  slaughter  in 
these  battles  was  immense.  The  numbers  of  the 
wounded  were  counted  by  tens  of  thousands.  They 
were  to  be  hunted  out  from  among  the  dead.  They 
were  to  be  taken  to  the  ambulance,  or  if  too  badly 
hurt  for  the  jolting  of  the  ambulance,  to  the  shelter- 


ITS  TRIAL   AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  277 

tent  of  the  field.  •  In  these  shelter-tents,  rapidly  con- 
structed to  screen  the  sufferer  from  the  scorching 
rays  of  the  summer's  sun,  the  surgeons  were  in  wait- 
ing with  their  instruments  for  amputation  and  for 
searching  the  wounds.  In  the  changes  of  the  armies 
here  from  Fradericksburgh  to  the  Xorth  Anna,  thence 
to  the  White  House,  thence  to  City  Point,  there  were 
perils  to  be  encountered  unknown  in  human  warfare. 
At  every  point  the  enemy  was  stationed  in  force,  and 
it  was  only  through  the  most  extreme  perseverance 
and  at  the  most  fearful  risk  and  expense  of  life  and 
suffering  that  these  necessary  objects  were  accom- 
plished. Sure  as  the  battle  and  the  bloodshed  was 
the  appearance  of  the  delegates  of  the  Commission. 

"  In  large  numbers  from  Maryland,  and  in  larger 
numbers  from  the  central  office  in  Philadelphia,  they 
crowded  into  our  apartments.  We  were  well  pro- 
vided with  haversacks  and  blankets  and  stores. 
Haversacks  and  blankets  were  delivered  to  each  del- 
egate; the  haversack  was  filled  with  articles  for 
immediate  use,  and  the  boxes  were  packed  and  sent 
by  the  steamboat,  or  the  railroad,  or  by  the  wagon 
team,  as  became  necessary.  In  some  instances  the 
stores  were  sent  in  advance  of  the  delegate,  and  were 
in  waiting  when  he  arrived.  It  was  indeed  cheering, 
amid  the  harrowing  reflections  occasioned  by  the  ter- 
rific slaughter  of  human  life,  and  the  fearful  mangling 
of  the  human  form  in  such  multitudes,  to  witness  the 
eagerness  and  earnestness  with  which  our  men  buck- 


278  OUR  COUNTRY: 

led  on  their  armor  of  peace  and  humanity,  the  haver- 
sack and  the  blanket,  and  hurried  out  of  the  office  to 
the  depot  of  conveyance  for  the  field  of  their  labor. 
It  was  a  sacrifice  to  them  of  time  and  money  and 
Strength,  and  a  risk  of  sickness  and  accida&t.  But 
these  drawbacks  were  not  in  their  ^-consideration. 
The  cost  was  counted  in  the  duty  to  which  they  were 
committed  in  the  relief  of  their  suffering  fellow-men. 
The  duty  was  imperative.  It  was  counted  in  human- 
ity's covenant  with  God.  It  was  God's  own  work  in 
his  care  over  his  creatures,  and  the  trust  was  in  God 
that  he  would  bless  his  own  work  and  lead  his  own 
self-sacrificing  servants  through  it.  The  hour  for  the 
meditation  and  the  formal  prayer  with  them  had 
passed  when  they  appeared  for  their  equipments  for 
the  service,  and  like  men  engaged  in  business  trans- 
actions, or  in  pursuit  of  journeys  in  business  relations, 
they  entered  their  names,  and  received  their  supplies 
and  left  for  the  conveyance.  We  say  formal  prayer, 
because  Christian  men  have  their  hours  and  their 
postures  for  prayer,  but  they  do  not  always  wait  for 
the  hours  and  for  the  opportunity  of  placing  them- 
selves in  the  posture.  They  pray  while  in  the  pursuit 
of  their  purpose  in  God's  service.  They  do  not 
always  want  the  books  nor  even  the  immediate 
thoughts  of  prayer.  The  very  act  is  prayer ;  the  busi- 
ness is  prayer  without  a  word,  and  apparently  with- 
out a  conscious  thought.  There  is  its  conscious 
thought  in  the  act,  there  is  faith  in  the  act,  there  is 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS   TRIUMPH.  279 

trust  in  the  act ;  the  unconscious  thought,  the  faith, 
the  trust,  each  is  prayer,  all  is  prayer.  The  prayer 
is  in  the  act.  It  is  the  prayer  of  faith.  It  is  heard 
on  high.  It  will  be  answered. 

"  As  we  have  looked  upon  these  men  in  the  pur- 
suit of  their  purposes,  as  anxious  as  if  the  large  estate 
were  in  their  view  and  the  extensive  business  profit 
to  be  realized,  we  have  inwardly  rejoiced  in  the  view 
•of  the  better  type  in  which  humanity  presented  itself, 
and  we  have  prayed  that  there  might  be  guardian 
spirits  with  their  unseen  protection  to  shield  these 
messengers  of  mercy  from  danger,  and  conduct  them 
safely  through  their  work.  We  prayed  that  there 
might  be  such  guardian  spirits,  and  w:e  believed  there 
would  be.  We  doubted  not  that  God's  invisible 
leaders  and  protectors  would  be  with  his  servants, 
and  that  they  would  be  conducted  in  safety  through 
the  period  wrested  from  other  necessary  life  pursuits 
and  devoted  to  this  humane,  this  Christian-like,  this 
noble  service. 

"  There. they  were,  and  there  they  are,  at  the  front, 
in  the  battle's  wake  waiting  for  it  to  subside,  and 
rushing  as  soon  as  it  is  over  as  if  to  make  amends  by 
Christian  services  for  the  sad  havoc  that  selfish 
humanity  would  make  of  itself.  In  fierce  conflict  the 
deed  of  blood  was  wrought.  In  the  quiet  composure 
of  the  peaceful  tent  the  flow  of  blood  was  stayed. 
In  maddened  frenzy  the  unfortunate  were  thrown 
violently  down.  In  the  labor  of  meekness  the  fallen 


280  OUR  COUNTRY: 

was  raised  up.  In  the  terrific  onslaught  the  bullet 
and  the  sword  were  the  agents  that  brought  the  ruin. 
In  the  merciful  intervention  the  prayer  and  the  word 
of  counsel  were  the  ministers  that  would  have  pro- 
duced the  restoration.  The  intended  victim  was 
seized  by  the  hand  of  Mercy's  minister  and  drawn 
forth  from  the  place  of  his  peril  to  be  restored  to  life, 
to  himself,  and  to  the  friendships  that  were  as  dear  as 
Kfe.  The  deeds  have  followed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession.  The  sword  and  the  bullet  have  scarcely 
strewn  the  soil  with  their  victims  when  the  hand  of 
the  delegate  has  been  stretched  forth  for  the  relief. 
The  blood  was  stanched  as  it  flowed  from  the  wound 
freshly  made,  and  the  life  of  the  fallen  one  has  been 
prevented  from  passing  with  the  current  as  it  red- 
dened the  soil.  The  living  principle  still  left  in  the 
system  has  been  nourished  and  nursed  and  encouraged 
and  strengthened,  and  from  the  very  dust  of  death 
the  form  has  been  brought  forth  and  restored,  and 
the  strong  man  has  once  more  appeared  upon  his  feet 
and  asked  readmission  into  the  ranks  of  his  country's 
defenders.  It  is  thus  that  heaven's  mercy  follows 
fast  in  the  personnel  of  the  Christian  Commission  in 
the  footsteps  of  war,  and  effects  the  relief  of  the 
afflicted,  and  the  restoration  amid  the  ruin. 

"  It  is  a  strange  history  that  our  nationality  is  now 
writing.  It  is  the  record  of  the  field  that  tells  of  the 
friendly  intervention.  The  tale  is 'written  in  blood 
and  tears.  The  mourner  stands  by  the  bleeding  form, 


ITS  TEIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  281 

and  in  the  rage  and  roar  and  devastation  of  the  battle 

* 

all  is  terrible,  all  is  afflicting,  all  is  heart-harrowing, 
and  working  wretchedness.  But  silently,  stealthily, 
and  imperceptibly,  the  relief  agent  appears.  He 
comes  like  Mercy's  angel  with  the  means  of  comfort, 
and  with  words  of  consolation.  He  tells  of  the  trials 
of  earth  and  of  the  triumphs  of  heaven ;  he  points  to 
the  brief  pilgrimage  of  sorrow  that  man  passes  below, 
and  to  the  enduring  bliss  that  he  is  to  possess  in  the 
world  above.  The  pilgrimage  is  soon  over  with  its 
woes  and  pains  and  wretchedness,  but  the  bliss  is  to 
remain  forever.  The  passing  spirit  realizes  the  rela- 
tion. It  looks  from  its  suffering  tenement  to  the  joys 
that  await  its  release.  It  springs  from  the  clay  that 
holds  it  in  its  earthly  thrall  and  flies  away  to  its  heav- 
enly rest.  So  dies  the  soldier  on  the  field.  So  passes 
the  hum£ii  spirit  from  the  wards  of  the  hospital  to  its 
home  in  heaven. 

"  The  history  of  the  hospital  must  pass  along  with 
that  of  the  battle-field.  The  history  of  the  hospital 
not  only  tells  of  the  triumph  of  the  redeemed  spirit ; 
it  tells  also  of  the  restoration  of  the  sufferer,  of  the 
reformed  life,  of  the  righteousness  that  superseded  the 
wickedness,  of  the  usefulness  that  came  after  the  pen- 
itence on  account  of  the  waste  of  years,  of  the  earnest 
labors  for  Qod  that  the  willing  hands  performed  when  _ 
the  heart  was  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ." 

Such  is  the  strange  history  our  nationality  is  now 
writing.     In  this  history  the  Christian  Commission 


282  OUR  COUNTRY: 

must  have  its  part.  In  the  generations  of  the  future 
its  tale  of  love  and  mercy  must  be  told.  It  were 
well  that  the  hand  that  binds  up  the  wounds  of  the 
sufferer  on  the  battle-field  should  be  painted  on  the 
picture  that  represents  the  hand  with  the  dagger  in 
its  grasp.  It  were  well  that  the  bearer  of  religious 
counsels  and  consolations  should  be  represented  on 
the  canvas  that  exhibits  the  bearer  of  the  sword. 
War  may  devastate  and  destroy,  but  the  Christian 
Commission  will  ever  appear  in  its  wake,  with  the 
relief  and  the  religious  counsel.  The  field  may  tell 
its  tale  of  woe,  but  the  hospital  that  of  the  relief. 

THE   DYING   SOLDIER. 

'"Tis  sweet  to  die 
When  Jesus  is  nigh." 

" '  Are  you  the  man  that  sang  and  prayed  last 
night?'  asked  a  dying  soldier  just  at  the  break  of 
morning.  '  I  was  one  of  them,'  was  the  reply.  Taking 
my  hand  in  his  he  pressed  it  warmly  and  said  with 
tearful  eyes,  '  God  bless  you,  my  brother.'  '  It  was 
so  sweet.'  'It  soothed  my  aching  heart  so  much 
that  the  night  did  not  seem  half  so  long  as  the  one 
before.'  A  heavenly  smile  irradiated  his  counte- 
nance and  told  of  inward  peace.  '  I  did  not  think,' 
he  continued,  '  that  I  should  ever  hear  the  voice  of 
prayer  and  praise  again  -in  time.'  '  But  O !  how 
precious !'  '  It  brought  peace  and  heaven  to  my 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  283 

soul.'     '  It  fell  on  my  crushed  and  bleeding  heart  as 
the  dew  that  descended  on  the  mountains  of  Zion.' 

"  We  breathed  a  short  prayer  for  the  dying  Chris- 
tian soldier,  and  left  him  with  ministering  angels 
waiting  to  convoy  his  freed  spirit  to  the  land  of 
unfading  brightness,  where  garments  rolled  in  blood 
are  never  seen,  and  where  there  is  rest  for  weary 
souls.  An  hour  afterward  we  passed  on  our  rounds 
the  spot  thus  made  with  the  heavenly  light  of  dying 
grace.  We  lingered  but  a  moment  to  close  his  eyes 
and  wrap  around  his  manly  form  the  soldier's  shroud. 

"His  countenance,  pale  and  serene,  was  touch- 
ingly  beautiful  in  death. 

"  The  lines  of  sorrow  that  shaded  his  face  when 
we  first  saw  him  were  no  longer  visible.  They  had 
given  place  to  an  expression  of  peaceful  resignation 
that  spoke  plainer  than  words  of  his  triumphant  vic- 
tory over  death  and  sin. 

"  We  gave  him  a  Christian  burial,  and  dropped  a 
tear  of  sorrow  as  we  remembered  the  aged  mother 
far  away,  who  for  long  years  had  indulged  fond 
hopes  for  her  darling  boy,  never  to  be  realized. 

"  God  bless  the  stricken  mother  was  our  heartfelt 
prayer  as  she  reads  the  letter  of  Christian  sympathy 
announcing  the  death,  in  Christ,  of  her  only  son."  * 

J.  R.  MILLER,  ESQ.,  field  agent  for  the  Christian 
Commission  in  the  Shenandoah  Yalley,  gives  the  fol- 
lowing interesting  particulars : 

*  Third  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Maryland. 


284  OUK  COUNTRY: 

"  The  battle  of  "Winchester  was  fought  on  the  19th 
of  September.  It  was  a  most  important  battle. 
Previous  to  the  campaign  that  so  auspiciously  opened 
with  this  engagement,  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah 
has  indeed  been  our  '"Valley  of  Humiliation." 
There  we  had  suffered  defeat  after  defeat,  and  the 
brave  men  who  had  fallen  on  many  disastrous  battle- 
fields lay  scattered  over  every  portion  of  the  valley. 
But  the  19th  was  a  new  day  in  the  history  of  our 
military  operations  in  that  section.  For  constant 
and  disastrous  defeats,  we  began  a  series  of  as  brill- 
iant successes  as  have  marked  the  history  of  any 
army  of  similar  power  and  strength  since  the  war 
began.  Morning  saw  the  enemy  proud,  defiant,  and 
confident ;  night  found  them  routed,  reduced  in  num- 
bers by  many  thousands,  flying  in  disorder,  leaving 
the  machinery  of  war  and  the  debris  of  battle  scat- 
tered all  along  his  path.  The  victory  was  complete, 
overwhelming,  and  destructive;  and  the  news  that 
went  to  the  world  filled  loyal  hearts  everywhere  with 
thrills  of  joy  and  rejoicing.  But  .victory  always  costs 
something,  always  leaves  sad  wrecks  behind ;  and 
amid  the  shouts  of  victory  on  the  field,  are  mingled 
the  groans  and  wails  of  the  dying ;  and  amid  the  re- 
joicings at  home  over  the  news  of  victory,  there  are 
always  mingled  the  throbs  of  broken  hearts,  for 
loved  ones  fall  on  every  field  of  strife,  and  every  vic- 
tory sends  sadness  and  desolation  to  many  homes. 

"The  battle  of  September  19,  while  so  complete 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  285 

and  successful,  was  bloody.  Hundreds  of  brave  men 
fell  to  rise  no  more,  and  several  thousands  fell  among 
the  wounded.  For  several  days  after  the  battle  the 
suffering  was  very  great.  In  addition  to  our  own 
wounded,  there  were  two  thousand  of  the  enemy's 
wounded  left  in  our  hands.  Winchester  was  liter- 
ally one  vast  hospital.  All  the  churches  and  other 
public  buildings  were  filled,  while  almost  every  pri- 
vate house  had  its  quota  of  wounded  and  mangled 
men.  There  have  been  but  few  times  since  the  war 
began  in  which  there  was  greater  need  of  external 
relief.  There  was  nothing  left  in  the  country,  the 
Government  supplies  were  all  back,  the  nearest  base 
was  Harper's  Ferry,  over  thirty  miles  distant,  and 
the  intervening  country  was  overrun  by  guerrillas, 
so  that  nothing  could  go  forward  unless  under  the 

protection  of  a  strong  military  escort.     I  cannot  pass 

* 
over  this  period  without  bearing   testimony  to  the 

noble  and  self-sacrificing  labors  of  the  loyal  ladies 
of  Winchester.  When  they  saw  the  brave  defenders 
of  the  old  flag,  which  they  still  so  dearly  loved, 
stricken  down  in  the  streets  of  their  city,  they  at 
once  entered  on  their  work  of  mercy,  and  ceased  not 
till  all  the  brave  men  were  made  comfortable.  They 
shared  their  own  last  morsel  with  them ;  they  washed 
and  dressed  and  cheered  the  weary  sufferers,  and 
bent  over  the  dying  to  catch  the  last  whispered  mes- 
sages to  dear  ones  far  away.  There  are  a  few  names 
in  Winchester  which  will,  go  down  into  history  gar- 


286  OUK  COUNTRY  : 

landed  with  honors  and  coupled  with  deeds  of 
heroism  and  magnanimity. 

"  At  the  time  of  the  battle  of  the  19th  the  Chris- 
tian Commission  had  no  adequate  organization  in 
the  valley.  But  immediately  after  the  battle  we 
hired  wagons,  and  pressed  forward  with  supplies  and 
delegates.  Then  began  one  of  the  most  important, 
necessary,  and  successful  works  of  mercy  that  it  has 
ever  been  our  lot  to  perform.  Never  was  sympathy 
or  kind  aid  more  opportune  or  more  welcome.  Night 
and  day  these  men  labored  among  the  wounded 
thousands,  washing,  dressing,  feeding,  praying  with 
the  dying,  burying  the  dead,  and  calling  upon  the 
living  to  repent  and  be  saved.  And  thus  the  work 
went  on  from  day  to  day,  .constantly  increasing  in 
interest  and  importance.  The  battles  of  October 
followed,  and  again  filled  up  the  hospitals  at  "Win- 
chester with  wounded  and  dying  men,  and  again  our 
hands  were  full. 

"  As  soon  as  the  railroad  was  restored,  Martinsburg 
became  a  place  of  great  importance  to  our  work. 
Almost  every  wagon  train  from  the_  front  brought 
down  two,  three,  or  five  hundred  men  on  their  way 
to  the  hospitals  of  Baltimore  and  Northern  cities. 
During  the  first  few  weeks  these  men  were  taken  to 
the  churches  and  other  buildings  from  the  wagons, 
where  they  remained  till  the  following  day.  Ride 
all  day  in  a  rough  army  wagon  over  a  macadamized 
road,  and  although  strong  and  healthy  you  will  find 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  287 

yourself  at  night  sore  and  weary.  But  have  your 
body  mangled  and  torn,  and  then  go  through  the 
same  process,  and  you  will  think  that  there  is  no 
suffering  so  intense  as  yours.  In  this  manner  these 
poor  sufferers  were  brought  twenty-two  miles  or 
more,  with  no  rest  and  nothing  to  eat  by  the  way. 
We  were  always  apprised  of  their  coming  an  hour 
or  more  before  they  began  to  arrive,  and  large  camp- 
kettles  full  of  water  were  placed  over  the  fire,  and 
soon  forty  or  fifty  gallons  of  tea  were  ready.  Then, 
with  tea,  crackers,  cheese,  meats  and  fruits,  our  dele- 
gates hurried  about  from  place  to  place  till  all  were 
fed.  Then  came  the  bathing  and  washing  and 
dressing,  and  it  was  usually  well  nigh  morning  before 
all  was  done ;  but  after  a  night's  hard  labor  our 
delegates  have  always  felt  amply  repaid  for  their  toil 
in  the  gratitude  of  many  noble  hearts.  In  the  morn- 
ing the  same  routine  came  again,  and  at  noon  the 
brave  fellows  were  placed  in  the  cars  for  another 
long,  hard  ride,  and  our  last  act  was  to  make  them 
as  comfortable  as  possible  on  their  hard  beds  in  the 
cars. 

"  It  does  one  good  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  such 
sufferers  in  such  a  cause,  and  to  see  how  their  hearts 
overflow  with  gratitude  to  their  friends  who  do  so 
much  for  them.  As  one  of  our  delegates  was  bathing 
the  brow  of  a,  noble  young  fellow,  and  putting  on 
clean  garments  instead  o/  bloodstained  ones,  and 
giving  him  some  delicacies  to  eat,  he  raised  his  tear- 


288  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

ful  eyes,  and  asked  him  what  prompted  him  and 
others  of  his  fellow-laborers  to  leave  their  homes  and 
spend  their  days  and  nights  on  the  battle-fields  and 
in  the  hospitals.  He  answered  him :  '  We  do.  it 
because  we  love  Jesus.'  Yes,  this  is  the  true  idea 
of  Christianity :  a  Christianity  that  works  as  well  as 
prays  and  believes.  Jesus,  our  great  pattern,  taught 
us  in  his  life  what  is  the  true  style  of  Christian  liv- 
ing. He  went  about  doing  good,  healing  the  sick, 
opening  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  unstopping  the  ears  of 
the  deaf,  cleansing  the  lepers,  casting  out  devils. 
And  he  says  to  all  of  his  disciples  in  all  ends  of 
the  earth,  he  says  to-night  to  you  and  to  me :  '  Go 
and  do  likewise.'  'Freely  ye  have  received,  freely 
give ! ' 

"  But  this  relief  work  is  not  our  only  work. 
While  caring  for  the  temporal  wants  of  our  soldiers, 
and  giving  them  physical  comforts,  our  delegates 
never  forget  the  thought  that  these  men  are  beings 
for  immortality,  and  never  fail  to  bring  before  their 
minds,  if  but  in  a  hastily  spoken  word  as  they  hurry 
from  cot  to  cot  among  thousands,  the  great  truth  that 
they  have  interests  far  higher  than  those  of  time. 
Then  during  the  winter  campaign,  which  is  always 
more  or  less  quiet,  we  enter  on  our  great  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel.  Chapels  are  erected  in  every 
part  of  our  armies,  prayer-meetings  organized  every- 
where, and  religious  newspapers,  books,  tracts,  and 
Testaments  distributed  in  every  regiment.  Some  of 


ITS  THIAL  AND   ITS  TRIUMPH.  289 

the  most  interesting  prayer-meetings  I  have  ever 
attended  have  been  held  in  the  army.  It  seems  that 
there  is  a  warmth  and  feeling  among  soldiers  in  the 
field  and  far  from  their  homes  that  one  never  sees  in 
the  too  much  stereotyped  religious  services  at  home. 

"  During  the  winter  of  1862  and  '63  I  was  in  Fal- 
mouth,  Va.  We  organized  a  prayer-meeting  there  in 
an  old  factory  building.  The  number  increased  until 
two  or  three  hundred  were  present,  and  the  house 
was  filled  to  overflowing.  Evening  after  evening 
men  rose  for  prayers,  and  many  expressed  a  hope  of 
a  living  interest  in  the  Saviour.  Of  many  remarka- 
able  conversions  there  during  those  few  months  I 
will  notice  but  one.  It  was  so  striking  and  remark- 
able that  I  cannot  pass  it  by. 

"  I  was  sitting  in  my  office  one  morning  in  April, 
when  a  strong,  athletic  man,  with  bronzed  cheeks, 
entered,  and  taking  a  seat,  began  to  converse  freely 
and  intelligently.  Pretty  soon  he  began  to  talk  of 
his  home,  and  I  could  easily  see  that  there  was  some 
great  load  at  his  heart,  and  that  he  had  come  in  to 
unburden  himself.  He  said  he  had  a  wife  and  two 
little  girls.-  I  asked  him  if  he  was  a  Christian. 
He  said,  after  a  pause  and  through  tears,  that  he 
was  not.  He  drew  a  letter  from  his  pocket,  and 
asked  me  to  read  it  aloud  to  him.  He  said  it  was 
from  one  of  his  dear  little  girls.  She  was  but  ten 
years  of  age,  but  had  wisdom  beyond  her  years. 

She  spoke  of  her  mother  and  little  sister ;  she  told 
19 


290  OUK  COUNTRY : 

him  of  her  Sabbath-school,  and  how  she  loved  her 
teacher  and  her  Bible.  Then  the  tender-hearted 
child  told  him  how  she  prayed  for  her  absent  father, 
and  then  she  began  to  beseech  him  to  become  a 
Christian  and  to  love  her  Jesus.  She  spoke  of  the 
dangers  through  which  he  dayly  passed,  and  im- 
plored him  to  give  his  heart  to  God.  As  I  read, 
the  great  tears  filled  his  eyes  and  trickled  down  his 
coarse  cheeks.  He  told  ine  he  desired  to  become  a 
Christian.  His  little  girls  were  praying  for  him,  and 
his  wife  and  his  mother,  in  Canada,  were  praying 
for  him,  and  all  were  writing  to  him.  And  then  he 
had  been  present  at  our  prayer-meetings,  and  it 
seemed,  he  said,  that  his  way  was  hedged  up;  he 
could  not  stand  all  these  calls  to  repentance ;  brave 
as  he  was,  this  took  all  his  courage  away. 

"  That  night  at  the  prayer-meeting  he  rose  and 
asked  the  prayers  of  his  fellow-soldiers.  Next  night 
he  expressed  his  hope  of  an  interest  in  the  Saviour. 
From  that  time  he  led  a  consistent  life.  I  believe 
he  was  really  converted  to  God,  and  I  believe  also 
that  it  was  by  means  of  the  prayers  and  letters  of 
that  little  girl  that  he  found  rest  to  his  soul.  God 
hears  prayers  and  answers  requests. 

"  At  the  base  of  Round  Top  Mountain,  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Gettysburgh,  when  the  angry  strife 
was  over,  I  found  his  grave.  He  had  fallen  for  his 
country,  but  I  trust  he  is  with  his  Saviour. 

"  Among  the  first  to  fall  on  that  bloody  Sabbath, 


ITS  TKIAL  AND   ITS   TRIUMPH.  291 

at  Fredericksburgh,  the  3d  of  May,  was  a  young 
man  from  Newburyport,  Massachusetts.  He  had 
been  constant  in  his  attendance  on  our  prayer-meet- 
ings, and  faithful  in  his  living,  and  had  already 
given  evidence  that  he  was  a  true  soldier  of  the  cross. 
I  found  him  soon  after  he  had  fallen  ;  a  ball  had 
passed  through  his  temples,  destroying  both  eyes. 
When  I  spoke  to  him  he  knew  me  by  my  voice, 
grasped  me  by  the  hand  and  said,  '  I  am  mortally 
wounded  and  soon  must  die.'  I  said, '  Charlie,  do  you 
feel  willing  to  die  here  ?'  '  O  yes,'  said  he,  '  I  have 
done  the  last  for  my  God  and  my  country.  I  have 
a  dear  mother  at  home  whom  I  would  like  to  see 
once  more,  and  I  would  like  to  die  at  home  with 
them ;  but  I  must  die  here,  and  God's  will  be  done.' 
'  Is  Christ  as  precious  to  you  now,  Charlie,  as  he 
used  to  be  in  the  prayer-meetings  ?'  '  O  yes,'  he 
said,  '  far  more  precious.  "Write  to  my  friends,  and 
tell  them  that  although  my  eyes  are  gone,  this  last 
hour  is  the  brightest  hour  of  my  life.'  Thus  died 
this  most  noble  young  man.  Far  from  home,  and 
far  from  the  dear  ones  that  make  home  happiest  and 
best,  he  died  triumphantly.  Jesus  was  near,  and 
that  was  enough  to  lighten  the  darkness,  to  smooth 
the  pillow,  to  ease  the  pain,  and  to  bear  the  soul 
high  above  the  fears  and  anxieties  of  this  world. 

"  A  young  officer  was  found  on  one  of  our  battle- 
fields mortally  wounded.  He  had  his  Bible  in  his 
hand  as  he  lay  calmly  awaiting  the  moment  of  death. 


292  OUR  COUNTRY  : 

His  Bible  was  opened  at  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans, 
and  with  his  pencil  he  had  traced  around  the  first 
and  last  five  verses  of  that  chapter.  Those  verses 
have  ever  since  possessed  a  value  and  sweetness  to 
my  mind  that  but  few  verses  in  the  Bible  possess. 
Think  of  a  dying  man  pausing  on  the  brink  of  life, 
while  eternity's  vast  depths  opened  up  before  him, 
to  trace  his  pencil  around  that  glorious  truth,  '  There 
is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them  who  are 
in  Christ  Jesus;'  and  that  other  declaration,  that 
nothing  in  heaven  or  earth,  nor  among  the  powers 
of  the  air,  can  separate  him  from  the  love  of  Christ. 
It  was  worth  living  a  whole  lifetime  in  toil,  privation, 
and  danger  to  witness  such  a  death.  When  asked 
if  he  had  any  message  to  send  to  his  mother,  he 
answered,  '  Send  her  my  Bible  and  sword,  and  tell 
her  that  I  died  in  the  arms  of  my  Saviour.'  "Worlds 
could  not  buy  that  Bible  from  his  mother.  It  is  far 
too  precious.  Those  pencil  tracings  made  by  that 
faint  hand,  just  as  death  was  completing  its  work, 
and  around  such  precious  words,  are  worth  more  than 
lines  of  gold,  because  they  tell  the  story  of  that  young 
man's  life  and  death  for  Christ." 

Rev.  L.  Hartsough,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  agent  of  the  Commission  at  Point  Look- 
out, made  the  following  remarks  : 

He  stated  that  his  heart  had  been  stirred  by  the 
thrilling  thoughts  expressed  by  Brother  Miller,  and 
could  appreciate  them  the  better  on  account  of  the 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  293  < 

experience  that  he  had  had  in  the  same  work. 
Among  the  many  precious  things  that  were  coming 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  Christian  Commission  dele- 
gates, that  cheered  their  hearts  and  encouraged  them 
in  their  work,  was  the  following  beautiful  waif  that 
will  speak  for  itself,  and  which  the  speaker  read  amid 
the  tears  of  the  audience  : 

"  A  young  man  in  one  of  our  southern  hospitals,* 
wounded  in  the  first  fight  at  Vicksburg.  when  asked 
by  a  Christian  gentleman  (Bro.  Burnell)  if  he  had  a 
Testament,  said,  '  Yes,  but  my  eyes  are  growing  dim, 
and  I  can't  see  to  read  such  fine  print  now.'  The 
gentleman  gave  him  his,  which  was  larger  type,  in 
exchange.  In  the  young  soldier's  Testament  were 
written  these  words : 

"  LAWSON  WOOD. 

"  FROM  YOTJE  MOTHER. 

"  My  son,  fear  God." 

And  then  followed,  in  a  different  handwriting,  these 
words : 

"  '  On  the  field  of  battle,  mother, 

All  the  night  alone  I  lay, 
Angels  watching  o'er  me,  mother, 

Till  the  breaking  of  the  day ; 
I  lay  thinking  of  you,  mother, 

And  the  loving  ones  at  home, 
Till  to  our  dear  cottage,  mother, 

Boy  again,  I  seemed  to  come. 

" '  He  to  whom  you  taught  me,  mother, 

On  my  infant  knee  to  pray, 
Kept  my  heart  from  fainting,  mother, 

When  the  vision  passed  away ; 

*  Nashville. 


294  OUR  COUNTRY: 

In  the-  gray  of  morning,  mother, 

Comrades  bore  me  to  the  town, 
From  my  bosom,  tender  fingers 

Washed  the  blood  that  trickled  down. 

"  '  I  must  soon  be  going,  mother, 

Going  to  the  home  of  rest ; 
Kiss  me  as  of  old,  mother, 

Press  me  nearer  to  your  breast. 
Would  I  could  repay  you,  mother, 

For  your  faithful  love  and  care ; 
God  uphold  and  bless  you,  mother, 

In  the  bitter  woe  you  bear. 

"  '  Kiss  for  me  my  little  brother, 

Kiss  my  sister,  loved  so  well ; " 
When  you  sit  together,  mother, 

Tell  them  how  their  brother  fell ; 
Tell  to  them  the  story,  mother, 

When  I  sleep  beneath  the  sod, 
That  I  died  to  save  my  country, 

All  from  love  to  her  and  God. 

"  *  Leaning  on  the  merits,  mother, 

Of  the  One  who  died-for  all, 
Peace  is  in  my  bosom,  mother ; 

Hark,  I  hear  the  angels  call  1 
Don't  you  hear  them  singing,  mother? 

Listen  to  the  music's  swell. 
Now  I  leave  you,  loving  mother ; 

God  be  with  you ;  fare  you  well.' 

"  Two  days  after,  this  gentleman  called  to  see  Law- 
son  "Wood,  but  lie  had  gone  home  to  Jesus."* 

The  work  commenced  by  the  Commissions,  and 
which  has  been  so  eminently  successful,  will  be  con- 
tinued and  expanded  by  other  agencies,  until  our 
bleeding  country  shall  be  healed  of  its  wounds,  and 
its  unity  be  restored  and  permanently  established. 

The  government  will  adopt  measures  for  the  resto- 

*  Thanksgiving  service,  hold  by  the  U.  S.  Christian  Commission,  on 
the  evening  of  November  24,  18G4,  in  Light-street  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  Baltimore. 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  295 

ration  of  the  disaffected  states  to  their  former  position 
and  privileges,  to  their  ancient  love  for  the  Union, 
and  sympathy  with  a  sound  national  policy.  The  dis- 
ruption of  those  states  left  the  body  politic  ghastly 
and  gory;  the  measures  of  the  government  in  due 
time  will  be  to  bind  up,  to  mollify,  and  to  cure  the 
wounds.  The  present  work  is  that  of  the  skillful 
surgeon,  who,  in  certain  conditions  of  a  wound,  finds 
it  necessary  to  use  the  probe  and  the  scalpel;  the 
future  will  be  more  especially  that  of  healing  and 
administering  cordials.  The  people  who  have  blindly 
rushed  into  secession  and  rebellion  will  see  their  error 
and  return  to  their  allegiance,  and  they  will  be  wel- 
comed to  the  common  brotherhood  of  states,  and 
reinstated  in  all  their  legitimate  rights  and  privi- 
leges. Old  feuds  and  heartburnings  will  be  forgot- 
ten, sectional  animosities  will  cease,  and  a  common 
platform  of  human  rights  and  equal  justice  will  tend 
to  annihilate  antagonisms,  and  to  mould  the  whole 
American  people  into  one  homogeneous  mass.  The 
violence  which  has  occasioned  the  temporary  estrange- 
ment of  the  southern  states  will  yield  to  the  stern 
discipline  of  war,  and  be  succeeded  by  the  feelings  of 
confraternity  and .  brotherly  affection.  The  unity  of 
the  states  will  then  be  a  common  faith,  and  the  object 
and  end  of  a  united,  continued,  and  uninterrupted 
endeavor.  As  we  have  "one  Lord,  one  faith,  and 
one  baptism,"  so  we  shall  have  one  political  creed 
and  shall  be  one  people. 


296  OUR  COUNTRY: 

• 
The  several  states  will  co-operate  in  tlie  great  and 

good  work  of  restoration.  Commerce  between  them 
will  be  revived.  The  old  channels  of  intercourse  and 
trade  will  be  opened  and  occupied.  The  rivers,  har- 
bors, and  railways  will  be  crowded,  and  interchange 
of  commodities  between  the  North  and  South  will 
settle  the  conviction  of  mutual  dependence  and  pro- 
mote the  prosperity  and  wealth  of  both  sections. 
The  eastern,  the  middle,  the  western,  and  the  south- 
ern states  will  regard  themselves,  not  as  so  many 
independencies,  but  as  parts  of  one  grand  nationality. 
The  rights  of  the  several  states  will  be  considered  as 
the  rights  of  sisters  of  the  same  family,  and  not  as 
the  rights  of  independent  governments.  All  the  stars 
of  the  national  galaxy  shall  shine  with  their  own 
peculiar  luster;  and  although  one  star  may  differ 
from  another  in  glory,  there  will  be  no  conflicts 
between  them.  The  laws  of  commerce  will  be  so 
many  bonds  of  union;  mutual  dependence  will  beget 
mutual  respect,  and  the  advantages  arising  from  the 
exchange  of  commodities  will  encourage  forbearance 
and  friendship.  The  union  of  the  states  will  pro- 
mote the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  each,  and  the 
prosperity  of  each  will  redound  to  the  honor  and 
glory  of  the  whole.  Then  shall  be  realized  the  spirit 
and  intent  of  the  prophecy,  "  The  envy  also  of 
Ephraim  shall  depart,  and  the  adversaries  of  Judah 
shall  be  cut  off:  Ephraim  shall  not  envy  Judah,  and 
Judah  shall  not  vex  Ephraim." 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  297 

O  Peace  1  thou  source  and  soul  of  social  life  : 
Beneath  whose  calm,  inspiring  influence 
Science  his  views  enlarges,  art  refines, 
And  swelling  commerce  opens  all  her  ports ; 
Blest  be  the  man  divine  who  gives  us  thec ! 

THOMSON. 

The  people  by  every  possible  means  must  encour- 
age friendly  intercourse  and  mutual  confidence.  All 
distance  and  exclusiveness,  envy  and  sectional  jeal- 
ousies, should  be  avoided,  and  a  community  of  inter- 
ests should  be,  a  feeling  more' than  a  mere  sentiment- 
ality. Let  the  people  of  the  North  and  of  the  South 
mingle  together  freely :  let  travel,  business  relations, 
and  matrimonial  alliances  be  encouraged.  Let  those 
refugees  from  the  South  who  find  it  agreeable,  and 
can  make  it  profitable  to  settle  themselves  in  business 
in  the  North,  do  so;  and  our  soldier  boys,  whose 
tastes  and  interests  lead  them  in  that  direction,  find 
for  themselves  homes  in  the  sunny  South.  A  reci- 
procity of  kindly  feelings  and  a  thorough  acquaint- 
ance will  finally  overcome  sectional  prejudices. 

Friendship  is  no  plant  of  hasty  growth  ; 
Though  planted  in  esteem's  deep-fixed  soil, 
The  gradual  culture  of  kind  intercourse, 
Must  bring  it  to  perfectly. 

JOANNA  BAILLIE. 

It  has  often  been  aaid  since  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
commenced  that  the  South  and  the  North  can  never 
live  together  again  under  the  same  government; 
that  the  friction  of  the  war  has  so  destroyed  all 
respect  and  confidence  between  the  two  classes  that 
they  can  never  be  restored.  This  is  an  ignorant  and 


298  OUR  COUNTRY: 

prejudiced  view  of  the  subject.  Time  is  a  great 
healer  of  the  wounds  of  the  soul  and  under  proper 
circumstances,  will  finally  efface  the  deepest  scars. 
History  furnishes  an  abundance  of  evidence  that  two 
peoples  may  be  reconciled  and  live  in  harmony  after 
the  most  terrible  wars  between  them.  The  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  after  being  nearly  extinguished  by  a  sud 
den  outbreak  of  war  with  the  other  tribes,  occasioned 
by  the  murder  of  a  Levite's  concubine,  at  Gibeah,  in 
the  days  of  the  Judges,  became  reconciled  "by  sym- 
pathy and  measures  of  conciliation,  and  ever  after 
lived  in  the  most  amicable  relations  with  the  tribe 
of  Judah.  England  and  Scotland  for  centuries  were 
engaged  in  the  most  cruel  wars,  and  seemed  to  be 
influenced  by  the  most  invincible  antipathies,  and 
yet  they  finally  became  united  under  the  same  gov- 
ernment. The  leaders  in  a  quarrel,  when  it  is  over, 
lose  their  power  for  mischief,  and  the  masses,  who 
are  their  victims,  settle  down  into  quiet  submission 
to  the  natural  order  of  things.  It  will  be  but  a  short 
time  before  the  fomenters  of  the  great  southern  feud 
will  be  out  of  sight  an^  out  of  mind.  The  whole  gen- 
eration of  them  will  pass  away  like  the  dew  before 
the  rising  sun.  The  people  are  not  always  to  be 
mystified.  The  reign  of  passion  is  short.  After  a 
brief  interruption  by  violence,  reason  and  common 
sense,  conscience  and  religion,  will  finally  resume 
their  sway.  The  better  feelings  of  the  human  heart 
once  in  the  ascendant,  mob  violence  and  brute  force 


ITS  TRIAL  AND  ITS  TRIUMPH.  299 

give  place  to  law  and  order,  and  peace  returns  to 
bless  the  world. 

Lend  once  again  that  holy  song  a  tongue 
Which  the  glad  angels  of  the  advent  sung, 
Their  cradle  anthem  for  the  Saviour's  birth, 
"  Glory  to  God,  and  peace  unto  the  earth  I" 
Through  the  mad  discord  send  that  calming  word 
Which  wind  and  wave  on  wild  Gennesareth  heard ; 
Lift  in  Christ's  name  his  cross  against  the  sword ! 

WHITTIER. 

The  last  but  not  the  least  restorative  which  I 
notice,  and  which  the  whole  country  should  pray  for, 
is  a  general  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
chastened  feelings  with  which  the  sufferings  and  hor- 
rors of  the  war  will  be  regarded,  it  may  be  hoped, 
will  be  favorable  to  religious  reflection,  humiliation, 
and  prayer.  The  Church  should  come  out  of  the 
struggle  nerved  with  fresh  power,  and  inspired  with 
an  aggressive  spirit.  During  the  war  she  has  lifted 
high  the  standard  of  the  cross,  and  has  contended 
nobly  against  abounding  iniquity.  She  has  inter- 
posed her  intercessions  between  an  overwhelming 
storm  of  divine  vengeance  and  the  country ;  she  has 
sent  her  sons  into  the.  army  to  fight,  and  her  daugh- 
ters have  remained  at  home  to  pray.  Her  sympa- 
thies and  her  prayers  have  reached  to  heaven.  God 
has  witnessed  her  struggles,  heard  her  prayers,  and 
sent  down  his  blessings  upon  the  government,  the 
army  and  navy,  and  the*  whole  people.  She  has 
passed  through  experiences  which  will  have  prepared 
her  for  a  new  and  vigorous  campaign  "  when  this 


300  OUR  COUNTRY. 

cruel  war  is  over."  A  great  revival  of  religion  will 
be  the  pressing  want  of  the  country,  and  the  natural 
subject  of  thought  and  object  of  labor  with  every 
devout  heart.  The  earnest,  active  piety  of  the  whole 
Church  will  move,  yea,  is  moving  now  straight 
toward  this  mark.  Already  the  cloud  of  mercy  is 
rising  in  the  heavens  the  bigness  of  a  man's  hand, 
betokening  an  abundant  shower.  A  mighty  rain  of 
righteousness  will  heal  broken  hearts,  sanctify  pov- 
erty, cheer  desolate  hearths,  and  harmonize  ihe  dis- 
cordant elements  of  society.  The  grace  of  God,  rich, 
full,  and  free,  is  the  great  resource  of  the  nation  in 
these  times  of  peril,  and  will  be  in  all  future  emer- 
gencies, and  will  be  vouchsafed  in  answer  to  fervent 
and  believing  prayer. 


THE  END. 


BOOKS  PUBLISHED  BY  CAELTON  &  POETEE, 

2OO  Mulberry-street,  New  York. 

Whedon's  Commentary, 

A  Commentary  of  the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Mark.     Intended 
for  Popular  "Use.    By  D.  D.  WIIEDON.  D.D. 
12mo. 

The  first  volume  of  this  work  has  been  on  sale  for  the  past  year  and  a  large  num 
ter  of  volumes  havo  been  sold.  It  is  n  12mo.  of  422  closely  printed  pages,  embrac- 
ing a  fine  map  of  Palestine,  and  other  valuable  illustrations.  It  is  the  cheapest  book 
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remarks  we  have  heard,  go  to  the  effect  thst  this  book  is  a  timely,  able,  and  valua- 
ble addition  to  onr  literature. 

Dr.  "Whedon  has  furnished  the  people  with  the  results  of  critical  study,  modem 
travels  and  Christian  reflection,  in  brief  and  pithy  comments  on  the  difficult  or  ob 
•cure  words  and  phrases  i)'  the  first  two  evangelists,  enlarging  on  occasional  passages 
of  importance.— Congregational  Herald. 

It  gives  the  results  of  patient  study  and  the  careful  examination  of  the  works  of 
those  who  have  preceded  him  in  the  same  field,  in  few  words  well  chosen. — Clirist. 
Olserver,  Phila. 

Dr.  Whedon  is  one  of  the  clearest,  strongest,  and  boldest  writers  in  America. 
He  addresses  the  intellect,  not  the  passions;  reason,  not  the  feelings.  The  principal 
value  of  this  commentary  is  found  in  exposition,  while  its  real  spiritual  utility  will 
depend  much  on  the  piety  of  the  reader,  and  hence  a  boundless  field  is  before  him. 
Religious  truths  are  presented  in  vivid  distinctness;  the  popular  mind  is  instructed. 
—Richmond  Christ.  Adv. 

So  far  as  we  have  had  opportunity  to  examine  its  expositions,  we  regard  the  work 
as  well  executed,  and  commend  it  to  the  Bible  student.— Advocate  and  Guardian, 

Pronouncing  Bible, 

Large  8vo. 

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estine, according  to  the  latest  discoveries. 

The  method  is  more  simple  and  easy  than  any  other  wo  have  seen.  The  pronun- 
ciation marks  arc  very  judiciously  confined  to  the  proper  names,  leaving  the  r«- 
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This  work  has  been  prepared  with  reference  to  the  w  ants  of  the 
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Book.  It  embraces, 

1.  The  CHOICEST  of  all  the  old  standard  tunes  from  the  most  emi- 
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